


Operation: FOSTERS

by PonderingWriter (Tziput13)



Category: Codename: Kids Next Door, Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends
Genre: Action/Adventure, Crossover, Gen, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-06
Updated: 2015-05-29
Packaged: 2018-03-31 00:30:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 56,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3957664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tziput13/pseuds/PonderingWriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Global Command sends Sector V on a mission to discover the truth about a certain home full of imaginary friends. However, neither the Foster's gang nor the Kids Next Door operatives know of the real danger lurking in the house...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Briefing

**Author's Note:**

> Originally published on FF.net on 6th Feubrary 2015, and finished on 29th May 2015.  
> Added to the Archive on 30th May 2015.

* * *

**...**

**Now Loading: Kids Next Door mission...**

**…**

**Operation:  
** **F.O.S.T.E.R.S.**

**_Friends' Omitted Safeness That Escalates Rescue Stuff_ **

**…**

* * *

The internal hallways of the Kids Next Door moonbase had always been quiet. Most of the operatives that lived in the secret space treehouse usually kept their proper positions, every one of them with a specific job. The Decomissioning Team was always ready to leave every time there was the need to capture a thirteen years old rebel. The Control rooms had always at least one operative each inside who constantly watched the various screens, looking for potential intruders and ready to receive incoming transmissions from the sectors located on the planet. In fact, the only times where the hallways were actually crowded were when lunch and dinner break arrived.

It was, therefore, no surprise for Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two, Supreme Leader of the Kids Next Door, to find herself alone while walking through the metal maze. The blonde girl, however, didn't mind. She had eventually become used to it, and by now she had more important matters to think about.

The Supreme Leader walked for some minutes until she reached a metal door guarded by two Kids Next Door operatives. The girl and the boy saluted respectfully Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two, who waved at them in answer. Then, the door opened automatically, letting Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two enter the big chamber behind.

She had been Supreme Leader of the Kids Next Door for a long time by now. Still, the sight of the Earth from space was always a bit stunning.

The girl quickly recovered her composure as she passed through the main control room of the moon base, where various KND agents were working on computers and communication devices. She wasn't there to resume her usual job, however. She had a precise goal, which needed to have the room empty.

"Numbuh Eighty-Six!" Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two called, as she reached the lowest part of the chamber. The girl she called, head of the Decommisioning Team as well as one of the highest ranked Kids Next Door operatives, was at the moment ranting at a poor boy, guilty of who knows what crime. Nothing surprising for Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two, she had tried various times to scold the red headed operative for her behaviour towards the other gender. Something that had seemed to be useless.

When Numbuh Eighty-Six realized she had been addressed by the Supreme Leader, she let the unlucky boy away, who finally gasped for air, and answered quickly: "Yes sir?"

"I want this control room cleared of all the Kids Next Door operatives  _now_. I have to register a secret message of vital importance, and I want to do it  _alone._ "

She obviously didn't suspect that some of the kids present in the control room were spies, but there was always the possibility to have moles in the Kids Next Door, and in their fight against adulthood the Supreme Leader didn't want to take any chances.

Numbuh Eighty-Six moved her lips in an attempt to protest. After all, she had been just asked to clear the room of at least 50 operatives. But the stern face of Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two made her change idea about it.

"All right, everyone who's in the room, leave now!" she shouted "Orders of the Supreme Leader! Move it!"

Some of the kids groaned in protest, while others stood up with big grins on their faces, gladly accepting the unexpected pause. Five minutes passed before Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two became effectively alone.

The blonde girl thought she seriously needed to have a soundproof registering room of some sort added, in order to avoid these nuisances. In any case, that was for another day.

Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two approached the main monitors and quickly tapped some hand-made buttons.

 _Message Registration Requested,_ a sentence appeared on the biggest screen.

Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two walked away until she reached a certain distance from a camera located right in front of her, while a time counter appeared on the screen.

 _All right Rachel, let's be as brief as possible,_ she thought as the numbers continuously decreased.

_5..._

_4..._

_3..._

_2.._

_1..._

* * *

_Good morning, Sector V._

_This message is one of maximum importance. I expect you to be all in front of me now, as I'll add the auto-destruction option to the transmission. Therefore, listen carefully to what I'm going to say._

_Global Command has decided to commit a delicate mission to your sector. This mission is the first one of its kind, and we're all sure you'll act with extra carefulness. You're going to be the first Kids Next Door operatives to actively help a potential ally in our fight against the grown-ups._

_You might already know of what an "Imaginary Friend" is. While there is no data in the Code Module of anyone of them becoming operatives of our organization, the Kids Next Door has always considered them as semi-allies. Imaginary Friends are created by younger kids to have someone to play with, to spend time with, when there is no one to do so. We have went through various records of Imaginary Friends created by kids to protect them from examples of adult tyranny. Thus, we believe that the Kids Next Door and these particular subjects have a common purpose: help children throughout the world._

_However, imaginary friends have a weakness: they are, more or less, all too kind hearted. This means that any adult with evil plans is going to have no problem in cheating them, or worse. And this is where your role begins,Sector V. There are lots of people out there that don't like our kind friends, and some of them would love to see them unable to help the kids, either the ones they were created from or any other one._

_We have received reports of a suspicious building in a town not too far from your sector. The sector that was located here is provisionally inactive, so you'll have to work on your own. This building claims to be a 'foster home': a place where Imaginary friends are brought when their creators outgrow them. We believe that this might be a low excuse for something dirty. Your main objective will be to scan the location and investigate. If you find any evidence that the house is not what it's said to be, begin a rescue operation of all the imaginary friends immediately. Do not hesitate to contact us if help is needed. When all the imaginary friends will be secured, you'll proceed with the dismantlement of the structure and the capture of the heads of the facility._

_I have faith in you, Numbuh One, Two, Three, Four, and Five. I hope to hear the report of a successful mission by the end of the day. Do not fail our friends._

_Good luck._

_End Transmission._

The image of Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two faltered through the hologram until it disappeared completely. After some seconds, the computer's voice spoke in its atone voice: ' _Auto-destruction process completed'._

Numbuh One thought over the message Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two had delivered to them. It didn't happen regularly that Global Command messages were sent with auto-destruction programs inside. That meant that this mission was one of utmost importance, and Numbuh One knew better to let his guard down in this one.

Not exactly what the rest of his team was thinking about at the moment.

Numbuh One stared through his sunglasses at his team mates. They were sitting in their usual positions in the Briefing Room of the tree house. It was only a matter of seconds before at least one of them made a comment. A comment which eventually arrived, made by the hand-to-hand combat specialist of the group.

"Did I mishear, or has Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two just said we're going to save a bunch of  _useless_  imaginary friends?"

"I think that she has indeed just said that"

"I don't know what does global command think about when he sends us these missions, Numbuh Two! I mean, come on: imaginary friends? How are they supposed to help us against adults?"

"If you listened carefully, you would know by know!" a sweet voice replied.

"What? I didn't see any of them show up to help us!"

"They help us by helping kids and making their lives better! And imaginary friends are not stupid!"

"Of course they are! They are almost as much stupid as your stupid rainbow monkeys!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Are NOT!"

"Are TOO!"

"ENOUGH!"

The members of Sector V turned to their unimpressed leader. Numbuh Three and Numbuh Four, the two ones who were arguing, made their best to ignore each other, as Numbuh Two looked at him with interest. Numbuh Five remained silent, her expression hidden under her red hat.

"You may leave your bickering for another moment, Numbuh Three and Four. Now we have to concentrate on the mission. After all, imaginary friends are real  _friends_  that kids all over the world can trust, and they sometimes act as a defensive wall against adult crimes. We're not letting the grown-ups get rid of that! Understood?"

The four member of Numbuh One's team nodded, and the leader of Sector V smiled, satisfied of their reaction.

"Good. We're leaving early in the afternoon, so I expect you to be ready for two o'clock. Numbuh Two, see if there are some gadgets that can be useful with imaginary friends in our stockpile. For the others, prepare your generic equipment. I'm going through the information that was sent along with the message by Global Command."

With that, Sector V was dismissed, and every operative went to prepare himself or herself for the upcoming operation.

* * *

"Master Blooregard!"

Bloo tripped over his own feet and not so gracefully fell to the floor, surprised by the sudden call. When he got up, Mr. Herriman was towering over him, a scolding look on his face.

"How many times do I have to tell you? You're not allowed to run inside the house, and, most of all, you're not allowed to simulate dangerous military actions!"

"Ohh, come on, can't you just let it be for one little time? I'm trying to not die of boredom here!" pleaded Bloo.

"The answer is no, Master Blooregard. I want to see you out of your simulation outfit for when I'm going to see you again, no exceptions."

Bloo nodded, rolling his eyes, and Herriman, being done with him, began hopping away towards his office.

When Bloo saw him close the door behind him, he watched his weapon: a simple water gun with a military camouflage applied. The tiny imaginary friend was also wearing a fake military helmet over his head, as well as a pair of black tattoos on his cheeks.

He eventually decided to completely ignore Mr. Herriman's reprimand.

Bloo suddenly assumed a military-like behaviour. He ran and with an agile somersault hid himself behind one of the cupboards that served as decoration for the atrium of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.

He reached out for his pocket and drew his personal radio. Which was in reality a simple recoloured milk cartoon.

"Headquarters! This is Pvt. Blooregard, reporting for duty. I'm noticing intense enemy activity in the area..." an imaginary friend entered the large room and Bloo took a peek of the new arrival: it was the centipede-like one. "...I'm going to confront them straight forward. They're going to be no match for an expert of the battlefields as myself..."

"Hi Bloo!"

Bloo screamed and jumped away, knocking the cupboard in the process, which fell on the floor. The vase that was lying over it instantly broke to pieces.

"MAC!" Bloo protested "What do you think you're doing? I almost had a heart attack!"

The only excuse Bloo got from his best friend was an amused laugh. "What are  _you_ doing instead? Seems like you got something in your mind..."

"Of course I have! I'm on a super-secret-important mission on which depends the future of the entire house! And the only person who can withstand such a mission is myself!"

"Uhhmm, it doesn't look like a big one, considering the fact you just screamed in fright only because I said 'hi' " Mac commented with a teasing look.

"Umpf... Whatever Mac. Just stay quiet until I can infiltrate the dining room..."

Bloo was interrupted by the unexpected sound of the doorbell. Bloo knew that Frankie was in another part of the building at the moment, so that meant that the one's who was going to answer was...

"Oh, no! Quick, Mac, come here!" quickly said Bloo. The imaginary friend abruptly pushed the kid, despite his protests, until they were both in front of the collapsed cupboard and what remained of the decorative vase.

After some seconds, Mr. Herriman left his office. He immediately saw Bloo and Mac standing suspiciously on the other side of the atrium. It was indeed suspicious, considering the weirdly large smile of Master Blooregard... But Mr. Herriman was not a rude imaginary friend, so he temporarily ignored them and went to greet the new guests.

Bloo sighed in relief when he saw the rabbit open the door.

"Bloo, for how much time do we have to stay here?" asked Mac with a raised eyebrow.

"Until that fiendish rabbit is going away, of course!" answered Bloo matter-of-factly.

"I'm not staying there for all the day, Bloo..."

"Oh, relax! I'm sure it's only a matter of seconds, anyway!"

The two stopped talking when the voice of Mr. Herriman reached their ears.

"Hello, young masters. My name's is Mr. Herriman, and I am the manager of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. What can I do for you?"

" _Hello, Mr. Herriman. We're sorry for the disturbance, but we had only recently come to know of this particular place. We really would like to adopt an Imaginary Friend. Is that possible?"_

Mac's eyes widened. Mr. Herriman body was hiding the newcomers, but the voice was enough sinister to make Mac tense. To be precise, there were more than one: several atone voices spoke together, perfectly synchronized between themselves. Mac couldn't tell how many children were talking to Herriman yet, but it wasn't his main concern. That way of speaking was simply  _weird._

However, Mr. Herriman didn't seem to have the same thoughts of the young kid.

"Well, of course you can. Everyone who desires to adopt an imaginary friend is always welcome. I only have a question for you. Where are your parents? We'll need to fill some paperwork, and that is going to require the presence of your guardians."

" _Oh, we know, Mr. Herriman. We've asked our father to fill a little authorization with his signature to let us do all the paperwork for him. Here it is."_

Some seconds passed, during which Bloo and Mac could only guess that Mr. Herriman was controlling the above-mentioned authorization.

"It seems authentic. Sorry for my persistence, but this is a rather uncommon procedure to follow, and it's going to need some more time than the standard one. Are you sure your father is not able to go here himself?"

_"We'd have brought him here if we could, Mr. Herriman. Father is a very busy man, and he always has a task that occupies him full time."_

Did they just call their dad 'Father' ? Like it was his actual name? Mac was not liking how these kids were presenting themselves one bit. Something was fishy...

"If that's the case then, we can proceed with the proper paperwork, young masters. I sincerely admire your will to go through the needed bureaucracy to adopt one of the imaginary friend living this house. Not much kids are like you, these days."

" _We absolutely agree with you, Mr. Herriman. If more kids were like us, the world would surely be a better place..."  
_

Mr. Herriman moved away from the door, guiding the new adopters through the room towards his office. It was in that moment that Mac and Bloo had the chance to watch with their eyes the strangers.

The strange feeling that was going through Mac's head only grew at their sight. There were five children following Mr. Herriman alright, three boys and two girls. However, each of these two groups wore the same outfit, identical in everything if not the size, and the five of them walked together in a perfectly synchronized pace, just like when they were speaking. Their sight gave a unpleasant feeling that Mac instantly felt. And he felt it even more when the five children turned to them at the same time, and smiled.

A disturbing smile, of course. And those blue eyes the five of them shared... There was an ice touch in them. Something Mac didn't like to see at all.

Mr. Herriman entered his office and the five kids followed him. When the door was eventually closed, Mac breathed heavily. He had been literally holding the air inside.

Bloo did the same. Even though for slightly different reasons.

"Gah! And I thought Wilt was weird. Helping Herriman with his filling papers thing? I'd rather launch myself from the roof without a parachute!"

Mac, surprised by that sentence, watched his friend. That was it? He couldn't have missed the weird aura those kids had around them, could he?

"Bloo... Don't you think those kids were stranger than that? I mean, have you seen how they speak and walk together?"

"Oh, yes... so what? Maybe they're exercising for some coordination exam. The football masked dude,  _he_  was strange. What's wrong with that guy? It's not like tomorrow there's going to be the Superbowl or something!"

"But how about the eyes? They... they're hiding something. I don't know, but something's up with those five."

"Mac, you're acting just like Eduardo. There is no monster hidden in the dark room except for the one in your head. So stop acting dumb and help me with the present matter: infiltrate that dining room!"

With that, Bloo zapped away with his water rifle in hand, completely forgetting the fallen cupboard. Mac didn't follow him right away. In fact, he wasn't in the mood to play with him at all.

He couldn't remove the image of those five kids from his mind.

* * *

"All right everyone, we're landing, so brace yourselves!" shouted Numbuh Two.

"Numbuh Two, do I have to repeat that we have to land without alerting anyone? We're going to an infiltration mission, not a full frontal assault." Numbuh One reprimanded seriously.

"Yes, yes, I know, Numbuh One. Just wanted to say that."

Numbuh Two grabbed the commands of the SCAMPER Sector V had chosen for this particular mission and concentrated himself. The handmade vehicle crackled as the pilot tried his best to touch the ground softly.

"All right, baby. Steady... steady... you're doing good... ok... just a little inch more..."

Numbuh 2 felt the contact of the vehicle with the ground and made a thumbs-up signal to his fellow operatives. "We're on the ground, Numbuh One!"

"Excellent! Team, grab your equipment, we're going out."

Sector V only needed half a minute to prepare itself for the mission. The SCAMPER's main door opened and Numbuh One leaned out, giving a quick glance to the surroundings. They had landed in a small clearing, surrounded by trees from all the sides. When he decided that the zone was clear, he went forward, followed right after by Numbuh Two, Three, Four and Five.

Numbuh Two picked a remote controller from his pockets and pushed a few buttons. The effect was that the SCAMPER activated some external mechanisms and it slowly changed its appearance, taking the look of a big rock with some bushes around it. Even though the disguise was composed of makeshift materials, it did its job well. The SCAMPER was nearly unrecognisable.

"Good job with the new disguise option, Numbuh Two. We're not going to worry about the ship now." complimented Numbuh One.

"Just doing my job, Numbuh One!" Numbuh Two answered proudly.

The five kids left the vehicle and continued to move between the trees. They had in fact decided to hid their transport inside the small woods that were located near Foster's.

That meant that they spent no more of a minute to reach the edge of the little forest and see for the first time the image of the Victorian mansion that was Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.

More or less, all the five of them were surprised by the size of the building. They were watching a side of the mansion, but it still was a memorable sight.

"That... is  _huge_..." said Numbuh Four "...and we're supposed to scout the entire thing? That's going to take forever!"

"Numbuh Five thinks that a good part of the structure is empty. They can't really manage to control the entire house if it's full of imaginary friends." commented Numbuh Five.

"Lots of imaginary friends! I once saw one downtown, it was so cute! I wonder how these ones look like!" squeaked Numbuh Three.

"Probably just a bunch of dumb weirdos. How old are the kids that create them? Four? Five?" asked Numbuh Four, visibly irritated by the situation.

"It doesn't matter, Numbuh Four" answered Numbuh One "The Kids Next Door exist to help kids of every age, and if someone plans to take their imaginary friends away from them, we're here to stop it."

He carefully watched the complexity of the mansion. It was indeed big: if they acted together, they would really end up being still inside once the night arrived. They needed to divide themselves in smaller groups in order to scout multiple areas of the building at the same time.

While Numbuh One considered their options, Numbuh Two was trying to get a new 2x4 device to work properly.

* * *

 _Kids Next Door:_ _**F.I.N.D.E.R.-A.I.D.** _

_Focus Installed Navigator Determining Echo Resistance_

–

_Added Imagination Detector_

* * *

The chubby boy directed the gadget towards the mansion, and the device biped, emitting something that was not visible to human eyes.

"I've modified this little piece of art!" Numbuh Two announced "It's normally used to detect adults and teenagers within a certain radius, but now it should be able to tell us an estimate number of the imaginary friends inside. And... it says... there are about two hundred of these guys inside!"

Numbuh Four groaned in frustration, in contrast with the big grin that spread on Numbuh Three's face.

"Quite a lot of people" Numbuh Five pointed out "In case we find out that is some type of prison, we won't be able to do this with only our ship!"

"Well, Numbuh Five, Global Command has indeed said to not hesitate to call for support. We shall see." Numbuh One said. He watched all his four companions as he began exposing his idea.

"Ok, guys, here's the plan. We're dividing in three groups to explore multiple places in the house at the same time. Numbuh Two and Five, you're going for the ground floor. According to the information in our possession, you'll find here most the recreational rooms of the facility as well as other key rooms. Numbuh Three and Four, you'll sneak into the upper floors, where the sleeping quarters of the imaginary friends are located. I'm going to enter from the highest possible part of the mansion to scout the highest floors."

The various operatives nodded at the mention of their codenames, acknowledging their role.

"Scout the building and search for clues that may help us discover the real nature of this home. If you find anything suspicious, contact me as soon as you can: everyone of you is equipped with a 2x4 mini-radio, so keep it ready."

"We're on it, Numbuh One. They won't suspect of anything!" said Numbuh Two, waving at his leader and already preparing to leave.

"Wait, Numbuh Two, I have one last recommendation for all of you. According to the data sent to us by Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two, there are three possible directors or main controllers of the facility: two adults and one imaginary friend. In any case, you have to avoid contact with either them or any other imaginary friend in the house. We do not want to scare our allies and create unwanted attention. Any questions?"

"An imaginary friend is working with the adults?" Numbuh Three was bewildered.

"Possibly yes, Numbuh Three. At the moment, we cannot deny any hypothesis."

"How can an imaginary friend do that... they're so sweet..." said Numbuh Three, her face saddened.

"Told ya' they were stupid..." Numbuh Four whispered to no one in particular. Unfortunately the Asian girl heard him, causing the poor boy to receive an elbow on the side.

"HEY! What was that for?" the boy protested, but he received no answer.

"You know what do the two adults look like?" asked Numbuh Five inquisitively.

"Global Command has been vague, Numbuh Five. We're only certain that one is an old woman and the other is her granddaughter, an about twenty years old young adult".

"That's enough for me. I'll keep an eye for them" said Numbuh Five.

"All clear, team?" Numbuh One asked. No one began talking, so the leader of sector V continued: "If that's so, let's go!"

Immediately Sector V split up in two groups: Numbuh Two and Five headed for the windows of the ground floor, while Numbuh Three, Four and One prepared their gliding tools to reach the upper ones.

The mission had officially begun.


	2. Recon

Numbuh One lost eye contact with Numbuh Five and Numbuh Two, as the two operatives moved to reach the side wall of the building, looking for a possible entrance. The boy fixed his sunglasses before moving in the opposite direction, Numbuh Three and Numbuh Four right behind him.

The leader of Sector V looked at the house while he walked, looking for a good position to begin their ascend to the upper floors. After a minute, an interesting feature caught his attention.

He had noticed the iron grating full of ivy that occupied one of the sides of the building. Numbuh One raised his head as he watched where the possible way up ended. To his surprise, he wasn't able to see the end of it from his position: the house was too tall.

"Numbuh Three and Four, put back your tools. We won't need them if we use that to climb the external wall" he said as he pointed at the grating.

"Thank goodness!" exclaimed Numbuh Four as he abruptly dropped the above-mentioned tools to the ground: two plungers. "I still cannot believe we were going to use those. Come on, that's Toiletnator's stuff!"

"Well, we wouldn't have had to, if you didn't destroy the ones we normally use..." Numbuh Three pointed out.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I had to! If it wasn't for that explosion, we could be..."

Numbuh One considered the possibility to call Numbuh Two and Five back in order to change the groups' composition. But he rejected the idea: the two operatives could have already sneaked into the house, and he wasn't going to ask them to return outside.

He nosily cleared his throat, successfully gaining attention from the two arguing hotheads. "Shall we proceed with the mission or do you want to stand here babbling all day?"

Numbuh Four and Three remained silent.

"Exactly what I thought..."

With that, Numbuh One turned and approached the grating. He grabbed the metal bars and tested its resistance to his weight. It didn't seem to be too old, and the metal did not emit tell-tale sounds of possible defects, so he signalled to his two team mates to follow him.

The three operatives climbed and gained height on the wall of the mansion, making sure to not stop for too much time whenever there was an open window behind the ivy-covered grating.

When they were at about half way between the ground and the roof, Numbuh One stopped.

"All right, here is where we split up. I'll search for another entrance near the roof. You two will follow those edges..." he gestured towards an ornamental brink that surrounded the entire house "...and see if you can find an open window. When you are inside, scan the floor and search for anything that may be useful to confirm our suspects. Keep low, and contact me if you find something."

"Okey-dokey!" happily said Numbuh Three as she jumped from the grating to the brink agilely. Numbuh Four followed her with a slower manner, carefully passing one foot and then the other to the edge.

"What's up, Wally? You're scared of high heights?"

"No, I'm not! I'm just... you know, you're never too much careful..."

"That's said from you is quite amusing. Isn't it?" Numbuh Three smirked.

"...just shut up and move!" Numbuh Four barked out rudely. The girl frowned but eventually kept silent and began moving on the brink, their backs on the wall.

Numbuh One sighed as they gained some distance from him. When they disappeared behind the first corner, he resumed to climb the grating. Without Numbuh Three and Four following him, he was much quicker, and after one minute he reached the end of it.

The bald head of Numbuh One appeared on the edge of the balcony as he took a peek of the area. There was nothing interesting... apart from a door positioned right on the other side.

_That's exactly the entrance I was looking for,_ Numbuh One thought as he passed over the edge and walked towards it. He stopped a few steps before reaching it. The door seemed to be closed from the inside, but Numbuh One wasn't worried. He had a entire set of lockpins with him, anyway.

Before picking the lock up, however, Numbuh One decided to call for his mates, to see their situation.

He drew out one of the 2x4 radio everyone of them was equipped with. These radios not only used a technology that made them almost impossible to intercept for adults, but also had a safety option for stealth missions. They had to be manually activated to hear an transmission: if they weren't, they'd simply vibrate to signal the incoming message, pretty much like Teenagers' mobile phones.

Numbuh One brought the device at his ear: "Squad, this is Numbuh One! Situation report!"

After some seconds, the first one to answer was Numbuh Four "We're still out of the darn building... there is not a single open window! Can we just break into one of those?"

"Negative, Numbuh Four. We don't want to attract unwanted attention, do you remember?"

The radio emitted a groan "...All right, all right. We'll keep searching. Out." Numbuh Four said through the radio.

"Roger that. Numbuh Two and Five, are you there?"

* * *

"We're in, Numbuh One" answered Numbuh Five as she watched the room they were in. It definitively looked like a big kitchen, and It probably was the main one of the entire house, if not the only.

"Good" Numbuh One's voice replied back "Be careful there: the office of the imaginary friend who heads the facility should be in that floor."

"Don't worry, Numbuh One" Numbuh Five replied "It doesn't seem like there are much imaginary friends in this- ..."

The black skinned girl stopped in mid-sentence.

"Numbuh Five? What's going on?"

"Numbuh Two? What the  _heck_ are you doing?" Numbuh Five called.

Numbuh Two was standing in front of the big refrigerator of the kitchen. He had opened it, and at the moment was staring in awe at the treasure which was hidden inside.

It happened that just the previous day Foster's provisions of food had been refilled. And Numbuh Two didn't remember to have seen that quantity of food in one place often in his life.

He was literally dreaming, but he quickly snapped back to reality when Numbuh Five smacked him in the face with her red cap.

"OUCH!"

"What  _are_ you doing? You'll make them discover us if you distract yourself like that!"

"But Numbuh Five, how could you not see the beauty of this sight?" Numbuh Two said, pointing at the still opened fridge "If their main food reserve is like this, how about the place where they keep their candy?"

That question wasn't casual, as Numbuh Two was aware of Numbuh Five particular passion. But the girl didn't fall for it.

"Oh, do not even try to convince me, Numbuh Two. Let's just keep moving, who knows what can happen now that- ..."

" _Cocococo!? Cococo!"_

Numbuh Two and Five froze in place. They slowly turned their heads to the direction the voice came from... and they saw an imaginary friend. A quite angry one.

_Great, Hoagie, just great,_ Numbuh Five thought. The two kids remained silent, not even a hint of an idea coming to their heads.

"Cocococo!" the imaginary friend repeated, glaring at the two kids with a fierce look.

"Do you understand what she's saying?" whispered Numbuh Two.

"No, I don't!" Numbuh Five answered, trying to gain some time.

"Abby!" Numbuh One voice said. Numbuh Five had forgotten the radio on, and he had listened to everything "Do something! Try to make up some type of story! You can't let her alert the entire home!"

"Ahem... Uhhm... Ah, yes! We're..." Numbuh Five tried to make a little laugh "We're technicians! We're... rookie technicians that is, and we're here on our first assignment because, you know... the fridge! They've signalized problems with your refrigerator so we're here to see what we can do!"

The imaginary friend, a weird combination of cardboard plane, palm tree and bird features, inquisitively looked at them. She raised one of her paws and pointed at the radio Numbuh Five was still holding in her hand: "Cococo?"

"Oh, this one? It's... uhm... the radio we use to contact our supervisor! We're rookie technicians, so we do need someone to tell us what we have to do!"

_That's the weakest excuse I have ever heard,_ Numbuh Two thought,  _that bird thing will never get it..._

The eyes of the imaginary friend stared intently at the two operatives for some more seconds... then, her expression totally changed to a more neutral one.

"Coco! Cocococo" she said, then she turned and went away like nothing had happened.

Numbuh Two and Numbuh Five remained motionless for some seconds, too astonished to move.

"I... I can't believe she actually believed it!" Numbuh Two said, the premise of a laugh on his lips "Oh man, I have to tell Numbuh Four!"

"Well, that will have to wait, Numbuh Two!" Numbuh Five said as she closed the fridge and launched a scolding glare at her companion.

"Numbuh Five's right, Numbuh Two" Numbuh One was still online "You were too close to be discovered, and we can't know for how much time the story will resist before it spreads out to other friends and the controllers. Furthermore, we- ..."

"Cocococo!"

Numbuh Five and Two instantly turned to the newly returned imaginary friend. She watched Numbuh Two with a vicious look on her face, then she went away another time.

"Ahem... did you understand what she had said?" Numbuh Two asked.

"I dunno, but I think she didn't like to see you and the fridge opened in the same spot" Numbuh Five answered.

"I don't think I want to encounter that imaginary friend any more..." Numbuh Two muttered, flinching at the thought.

"You better not encounter any one of them from now!" Numbuh One said through the radio "Get out of that room and keep out of sight!"

"All right, we're moving Numbuh One... Out." Numbuh Five replied. After turning the radio off, she pushed away a unwilling Numbuh Two, who still watched the fridge as he was dragged away from it.

Eventually the girl managed to get Hoagie back to mission mode, and they resumed their stealth task.

* * *

Somewhere in the upper floors of the house, Bloo was watching TV. After a disastrous attempt to invade the dining room, Mac had convinced him to go to do something else and meet up with their other friends, even though Bloo insisted in bringing with him his military gadgets.

Currently the TV was airing a action-packed film featuring no other than the famous actor Rod Tango, one of Bloo's idols. An idea that was not shared by Mac, which by the way wasn't paying attention to the movie.

Mac's mind, in fact, was still concentrated on the five suspicious kids that had entered the house half an hour before.

"Mac, don't you think you're being a bit too much overreacting?"

The eight-years old kid was sitting on the sofa in front of the TV, and next to him there was Wilt, a worried look on his face. Wilt was concerned with Mac's behaviour, and wanted to cheer him up.

"I know that it seems illogical, Wilt. But still... they were too strange. The way they spoke, the manner they walked together... Something in their eyes! And how much times have you seen a kid volunteer to help Mr. Herriman with his work?"

"Maybe they're a bit more educated that most of kids, Mac" Wilt proposed.

"Okay, let's say that's true. That doesn't explain the way they looked at me and Bloo. It was like they're planning something!"

Wilt sighed before replying: "Listen, Mac, I'm sorry. But I think you are exaggerating. What would they ever want to do to us? I don't recall doing something bad concerning them. Think about it this way: after the next two hours, they will probably have left the house with their new imaginary friend. Who knows, maybe they'll even get Duchess away from Foster's!"

"Hmph... fat chance of that..." Mac said, but he couldn't help to smile. Wilt smiled too, content that he had succeeded in making Mac a bit more happy.

Mac lay on the sofa, there was plenty of space as Bloo was right in front of the TV, and stared at the ceiling.

"Perhaps you're right Wilt. Maybe if I distract myself I'll hopefully forget about them..." Mac said.

"That's a very good idea" Wilt commented. He wanted to begin now, so he tried to change the subject. He gave a quick glimpse to Bloo, who was still wearing his military helmet.

"What is  _he_  planning to do, Mac? I want to know before he tries to involve me in" he asked.

"Oh, nothing extraordinary, he just want to save the day and all from who knows what..." answered Mac. Bloo was too concentrated on Rod Tango destroying an entire row of enemy agents with a minigun to hear them.

"Yeah. I mean, if there was someone who's trying to get in the house, we would know by now, right?" Wilt said.

* * *

Numbuh Four leaned on the side of an entrance, the door was opened, and glanced to examine the room. There were two voices talking and behind a sofa he could see the head of an imaginary friend. A TV in front of them was on and loudly emitted the sounds of an action movie. One that Numbuh Four knew about.

"Oh man, those guys are watching one of Rod Tango's movies!" complained Numbuh Four "I could be doing the same instead of losing time in this useless mission!"

"You're starting to get annoying! It's  _not_  useless!" said Numbuh Three "And anyway, that Rod Talco one is just a low-rated actor. And you know it."

"It's Tango! And there are only a few people who can appreciate the art behind those movies, and you aren't one of those, Numbuh Three."

"What do you mean with that?" Numbuh Three asked, feeling a bit offended.

"I mean... ehrm... never mind, let's just move" Numbuh Four quickly ended the discussion, suddenly lacking of a good response. Numbuh Three gave him a curious look with a raised eyebrow, but he ignored her and moved fast through the open space in front of the door.

The blond boy waited for her black-haired comrade to join him, but right before she made the first step, a loud call arrived.

"WILT!"

A female, adult-like voice. Which meant...

Numbuh Four did the first thing he could think of: hiding. And the first hiding place he could see was inside one of the biggest of the various cupboards that were placed in the hallways. They were all small, but being short had his advantages.

He ran to the piece of furniture, opened it and tried to squeeze himself in. Thank goodness it wasn't too small, and he managed to close himself inside before the adult arrived.

He heard footsteps passing in front of him and stopping after some seconds. Numbuh Four felt the urge to see what was going on and despite the possibility of being found, he slightly opened one of the shutters.

He could see the figure of what seemed like a very young woman, he would have mistaken her for a teenager if it wasn't for Numbuh One's information, with red hair and wearing a green sweater. She was carrying a bucket full of clothes.

After some more seconds, an imaginary friend exited from the room he had passed in front of before. Numbuh Four's mouth opened and remained like that. The red-coloured imaginary friend was  _tall,_ enough tall to make the adult seem like a kid.

"Wilt..." the adult began, sounding annoyed "How many times do I have to tell you that you  _have_ to separate your personal socks from the other friends' laundry?"

Wilt's face instantly saddened. "Oh, no! ...I'm sorry, Frankie. I always try to make it so, but I must have forgotten yesterday."

"Well, you do realize that you have just ruined three of these?" the adult said, showing him the laundry bucket.

Wilt nodded, watching the ground.

"Good. I'm not preparing the washing machines again Wilt, so..." she abruptly pushed the bucket on Wilt's hands, or to be more precise, on his only hand "...take care of them!"

Numbuh Four thought he had listened for enough time, so he quickly closed the door. He therefore missed the light that instantly popped on Wilt's face as he smiled and said "Yes, of course! I'm sorry Frankie, I'm not doing that again, I promise!"

Frankie's annoyed face faded. "It's all right, Wilt. It's just hard to remain calm with all the problems in this house, and between those and Herriman's absurd requests..."

"That's ok. We all lose our temper sooner or later." Wilt said reassuringly. The young woman smiled "Thanks, Wilt. You always find the good in everything."

"No problem Frankie, I'm just trying to be useful!" Wilt replied.

This part of the conversation went unheard by Numbuh Four, who was too much busy in thinking of the implications of the first part.  _Numbuh One was right! The adults are using the imaginary friends as slaves!,_ he thought, a bit exaggerating the truth.

"All right, Numbuh Three, as much as I don't like it, we have to help those dumb friends, so let's call Numbuh- ..." Numbuh Four began whispering, but he stopped in mid-sentence.

_Numbuh Three!_

He had completely forgotten about her in the frenzy of getting out of sight. Before he could decide what to do, an electrical voice echoed through the hallways and made him stop thinking.

"MISS FRANCES! I demand you to reach my office right now! A group of friendly adopters wants to visit the house and I don't have time for such a task."

Some  _heavy_ footsteps were heard. Numbuh Four heard a click, then the adult's voice spoke: "COOMING!"

After another click, he heard some mutterings, but he missed the correct words. He listened to the adult and the imaginary friend going away, and only when he was sure they were long gone, he left his hiding place.

He looked at his surroundings, trying to locate Numbuh Three, which he believed had hidden herself just like him. But after half a minute of silence and no girl appearing, he began getting irritated.

"Numbuh Three? Where are you? Come on, it's not funny!" he called, but it was hard to do so while trying to be silent.

In any case, he did not receive an answer.

"Numbuh Three?" He repeated another time "...Kuki?"

The irritation disappeared as Wallabee began getting  _worried_.

* * *

Numbuh One sneaked down the stairs. As he had imagined, taking care of the locked door was piece of cake, and now he was descending the building after concluding that the last floor was completely desert. The British boy looked at every possible marking points and made a mental note for every one of them: an abandoned table, a horrible-looking picture, a decent one, a ruined part of the wall painting. He would need them if he had to return to the roof, and getting lost in that maze wasn't in his current plans.

He proceeded in scouting the next floor, making extra caution in listening to the silence, ready to react at the first noise.

Noise that eventually arrived.

Numbuh One stopped and listened. The sound seemed to be a human voice. It was hardly audible, but the silence was almost complete in that part of the mansion.

The leader of Sector V walked in the direction of the sound, tiptoeing and trying to me as much silent as possible. He spent two minutes before finding the source of the voice.

There was a door with a noticeable note over it. On the plate, there were two simple, but important words:  _Madame Foster._

_Bingo._

Numbuh One approached the door. Whatever was going on inside it was still too low to catch on, and Numbuh One wasn't taking chances in trying to take a peek inside. He in fact had another ace in the hole.

Numbuh One quickly drew out what appeared to be another 2x4 gadget of extreme simplicity. It was only a pair of cell-phone earphones linked with what seemed to be the horn of a gramophone.

Still, Numbuh One wore the earphones and placed the horn on the door. As soon as the brass object touched the door, the boy began hearing what Madame Foster was saying.

And he didn't like it.

"My plan is working perfectly!" said the voice of an old woman, _wickedly_ "it's only a matter of time before I, Madame Foster, can finally get rid of those idiotic, annoying imaginary friends. Little do they know that their doom is near! Muahuauahuah!"

Numbuh One fell back from the door, a frightened look on his face. Then he quickly escaped from who he now believed was a  _mad_  old woman, putting as much space as possible between the room and himself.

* * *

Inside the room, Madame Foster stopped laughing evilly and tapped on the screen of the modern video-camera that Frankie had loaned to her.

She then tapped some buttons and the record of her previous evil show was played with some additional filters that made her sound like a dark lord of something.

The old woman chuckled at the image of herself acting so silly. "These new options are much more amusing than I thought! I should convince Frankie to buy me one of these last model cameras for my next birthday!" she said to herself, still laughing.

* * *

_That was terrifying!,_ Numbuh One thought, oblivious to the error he was making,  _We have to free the imaginary friends from the grasp of that mad granny! I must contact the others!_

When he thought he was enough far from Madame Foster's room, Numbuh One began running towards the roof and at the same time drew out his 2x4 radio, activating it right away.

"Guys!" he almost shouted "I've discovered what is really going on here! They plan to dispose of all the imaginary friends for good!"

From the radio the first to answer was Numbuh Four. But it was like he wasn't interested by Numbuh One's new discovery.

"Uhm... Ahem... We... We have a little problem, Numbuh One" he tried to say.

"What? What kind of problem?"

"We have encountered the young adult you were talking about, Numbuh One. Me and Numbuh Three accidentally split up and, well... when the adult was gone, she had disappeared."

"Are you just saying you've  _lost_  your team mate, Numbuh Four?" said Numbuh One, a hint of anger in his voice.

"Oh... well... yes" Numbuh Four slowly answered.

Numbuh One placed an hand on his forehead, his patience running out. He made a long breath to calm himself down, then he said "What are you waiting for, then? Have you tried to contact her? She's equipped with another radio, you know!"

"I've just tried, more than one time! But she does not answer to my calls!"

"Not good... Dang!" Numbuh One let his frustration go out. That wasn't good. If that Madame Foster was like that, and Numbuh Three had been captured, what could they be doing to her now?

"This is definitely not Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends as it's been advertised. Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two was right..." Numbuh One said to himself.

"She is cruddy right! I've seen that Frankie  _force_  an imaginary friend to do  _her_  laundry!" exclaimed Numbuh Four. He would have continued if they weren't interrupted by a third voice.

"Sorry to interrupt, boys, but Numbuh Five thinks that we have a bigger problem here!" Numbuh Five's voice arrived through the radio.

Numbuh One grimaced "I don't think it can be worse than the current situation..."

"It may be, Numbuh One!" Numbuh Five replied "The Delightful Children From Down The Lane are here!"


	3. Operation

…

"You're kidding. Right?"

"No, I'm not!" Numbuh Five replied, annoyed by Numbuh Four's lack of confidence in her "And if you still don't believe it... well, hear it yourself."

She directed the radio's audio-receiver towards the centre of the atrium of Foster's Home. She and Numbuh Two were leaning from the edge of the dining room.

The Delightful Children From Down the Lane were discussing something with a bizarre imaginary friend, a rabbit with a perfect gentleman suit.

"I don't know how much time she's going to need. Miss Frances is always late in everything I order her to do..." the friend said.

" _Don't worry, Mr. Herriman. We don't have to hurry, we have all the time she needs..."_ Numbuh Five stiffened at the sound of the five voices of their arch-enemies.

They waited for some additional seconds, then the figure of Frankie appeared on the upper floor of the atrium.

"Miss Frances! You've spent far too much time in coming down here!" Mr. Herriman reprimanded "You've made our gentle guests wait!"

"I'd like to see  _him_  running through three floors of stairs..." the redhead muttered while descending towards them and before Herriman could continue his speech, she friendly said to the five kids "Come on, I'll show you the house and some of the imaginary friends if you like."

" _Of course, Miss Frances, we'll follow you wherever you go."_

Frankie watched the Delightful Children with a surprised look. She found their way of speaking odd, but she didn't think more about it: "Okay... And you can call me just Frankie."

" _Yes... Miss Frances."  
_

Frankie raised an eyebrow. That was surely strange, she didn't remember of any kid who went to Foster's to persist in calling her that way. In any case, she had no right to order them how to call strangers, so she let it go and walked away, returning upstairs. The Delightful Children followed her and as soon as they were gone, Mr. Herriman returned to his office.

Numbuh Five waited for the Aussie and their leader to comment through the radio.

"Oh...  _crud_."

Not exactly an intelligent comment, but it somewhat recapped all the thoughts of the four operatives.

After some more seconds, the voice of Numbuh One arrived.

"Let's keep calm team... All right, based on the information we have recovered: the house is a prison where imaginary friends are closed in and forced to work for the adults, the main head of this organization wants to get rid of those, and the Delightful Children are involved. I'm fairly sure we have enough clues to let us begin phase 2 of the mission."

"We have to free all the imaginary friends as soon as possible. I'm returning to the roof, where I'll try to contact the moon base to ask for reinforcements from the nearest sectors, we'll need them in order to bring away two hundred friends."

"Numbuh Two and Five, you are the nearer to the main entrance than any of us, so you'll begin leading all the friends outside. Try to convince them, and hopefully they'll follow you."

"Numbuh Four, you have keep looking for Numbuh Three and find her before she gets in trouble. We don't know what can happen now, and remember that the woman and the Delightfuls are probably heading for your location. Do not make them discover you! I'll meet up with you as soon as I can!"

"I'm already moving, Numbuh One!" Numbuh Four nearly shouted before cutting off his transmission.

"Numbuh One, how are we supposed to convince the Imaginary friends?" asked Numbuh Two, now at the side of Numbuh Five "I mean, they do not seem to be aware of the real nature of this home!"

"Try to think of something that can oblige them to exit the house at once. And watch out for the imaginary friend that talked with the Delightfuls!"

"All right, Numbuh One. We're on it. Out" Numbuh Five finished. She turned off the 2x4 radio and put it in one of her pockets.

"You have some ideas, Numbuh Five?" asked Hoagie "Because I don't!"

"Hey, you two are new, aren't you?"

Numbuh Five and Two turned ready to pounce at the enemy, but they stopped as they saw another imaginary friend in front of them, a green one with a long neck and a pair of moustaches.

"Woah, woah, calm down my friends" the friend said with raised hands "Don't need to be that scared. You aren't the first ones to arrive at Foster's, after all. There are no enemies here!"

"I think he thinks we're imaginary friends" Numbuh Two whispered.

Numbuh Five forced a smile before saying "Ah... Yes, we're a bit timid, you know..."

"Don't worry, I'm sure that you'll be able to meet some interesting friends in this home. And you don't have to be nervous for your appearance: you aren't the first imaginary friends in this house who look like normal humans!"

With that, the imaginary friend waved at them and walked away towards the dining table. In that moment, Numbuh Two and Five realized that a group of friends was entering the room and sitting down on the chairs.

"Hey, it isn't already dinner time, is it?" Numbuh Two asked, perplexed by the situation.

"No, it seems more like you aren't the only one with snack time in the afternoon..." Numbuh Five commented "...but this may be our chance. Numbuh Five's got an idea!"

"What idea?" Hoagie asked. But Abigail did not answer him. She instead walked towards the long table and right before reaching it, she leaped over it, gaining full attention of the crowd.

"HEY!" an imaginary friend protested, a small and short one with only one eye "I'm supposed to eat my sandwich there!"

"That's going to wait!" Numbuh Five said before raising her tone.

"Guys! You have to get out of here! There's a  _fire_  in the house!"

All the imaginary friends whispered to each other, and someone was indeed scared. But some other was more like annoyed by Numbuh Five's sudden message.

"Listen,  _hat girl_ " said Jackie Khones, arms crossed "I'm not leaving an appointment with my sandwich without a very good reason. I've never seen you around, why would we have to believe you?"

Numbuh Five was expecting a question like that, and she was prepared for it: "Because I have seen a column of smoke from outside, and I have entered from the open windows to warn you. Of course, if you want you can still eat you sandwich and  _be reduced to ash_..."

Jackie Khones watched Numbuh Five right in the eyes for some long seconds before announcing: "Good enough for me."

A moment after, almost all the imaginary friends began screaming and running towards the atrium, heading for the main entrance of the mansion. Numbuh Five began giving orders here and there, trying to direct the imaginary friends towards the exit in the fastest way possible. However, she didn't need much time to realize that most of the crowd was having problems moving  _in_ the atrium.

"Great idea, Numbuh Five!" Numbuh Two congratulated, clapping his hands.

"Yes, yes, we haven't finished yet! Help me find something which I can climb over!" she said while moving between the frightened friends "I'll take one of those megaphones they're using to... oh, man!"

"Hmm? What is it now?" Numbuh Two asked while following his mate.

"The rabbit! We've totally forgot about him!" Numbuh Five shouted.

The two Kids Next Door operatives glanced at the door for Mr. Herriman's office, and from their position they were able to see through the tiny window the silhouette of the imaginary friend, getting nearer and nearer.

Mr. Herriman hopped towards the door, bothered by the noises coming from the foyer.  _There are clear rules about running in the house, and all the imaginary friends must respect them! No exceptions!,_ the friend thought as he opened the door. But in front of himself he didn't see Master Blooregard running around as he had imagined, but he instead saw an entire crowd of imaginary friends screaming and trying to get out of the house.

"What in the world is- ..." Mr. Herriman began, but he had not the chance to finish. Something  _hard_ hit him in the face and sent him towards the floor.

Numbuh Two approached the rabbit imaginary friend and checked him, the SPLANKER ready in his hands. He was knocked out cold.

"Rabbit is out of the game, Numbuh Five!" Hoagie yelled, waving at Abigail.

The dark-skinned girl waved back and examined the walls. When he found one of the antique megaphones, she picked her hat and threw it at the object like a boomerang. As she expected, it was a bit too old to sustain the strike, and the megaphone began falling instantly upon being hit.

Numbuh Five ran to the wall and picked up both hat and megaphone. It had a visible dent, but it seemed still usable for her. When she watched her back, she saw Numbuh Two pushing two cupboards together towards the centre of the atrium.

None of the imaginary friends running in the surroundings did notice them as they were too busy in escaping from the house. The news of a fire in the house was no doubt quick to spread to many more friends than the ones taking a snack break, and by now more and more friends were running downstairs from the upper floors.

"Uff... those things are heavy!" Numbuh Two panted as he stopped pushing. Numbuh Five didn't reply and after climbing the two cupboards, megaphone in hand, she resumed giving instructions away. With her help, the imaginary friends became able to move without getting in the way of each other.

"If we keep this up, I think we'll be able to make all the imaginary friends exit in no time!" Numbuh Two said.

Numbuh Five shared the same idea. However, before she could express herself, someone spoke first.

" _COCOCO?! COCOCOCOCOCO COCO CO!"_

Numbuh Two would have attacked the imaginary friend with his SPLANKER, if it hadn't been for Numbuh Five shouting: "Wait, Numbuh Two!"

Before Hoagie could question her order, she said to Coco "You know what? That fridge was a complete mess! And we couldn't fix it in time because it suddenly got on fire! We're trying to make all the people inside exit before it's too late!"

Coco blinked in surprise before running away in fright herself: "Cococococo!Cococococo!"

Numbuh Five watched as she got away... opposite the exit.

"Oh, no! She's not heading for the exit! Numbuh Two, you have to stop her, if she finds out we made it up, she may tell the other friends!"

"Do I have to, Numbuh Five?" Numbuh Two tried to ask "That friend gives me the creeps!"

Numbuh Five put her hands on her hips and glared at the chubby boy, who eventually sighed and began running after Coco.

* * *

"Numbuh Three? ...Numbuh Three? ...Kuki?"

_Stupid stealth mission,_ Numbuh Four thought as he continued to call Numbuh Three's name without shouting at the same time. How was he supposed to call her without raising his voice? He would never be able to find her this way!

_Stupid girl, always getting in trouble..._ he mumbled. He wasn't admitting to himself he was worried sick, but he still couldn't ignore the fact that his heart was batting a bit too fast for comfort.

But before he could continue his mental complaining, Wallabee heard voices approaching. He noticed a janitor closet near him, and he decided it was a good idea to hide himself there this time.

Numbuh Four closed the shutters just in time, before the imaginary friends reached him. There were two of them and they were chatting casually. However, after some seconds, a third one arrived running.

"Hey, where're you going that fast?" asked one of the first two imaginary friends.

"You have to get outta here! There's a fire in the house, I'm trying to warn as much friends as I can!" the running friend shouted, not stopping his rush.

"A FIRE?!" The two imaginary friends almost instantly began running, heading for the main exit, and after some seconds their footsteps disappeared.

_Fire? What in the world is going on now?,_ the operative thought,  _I don't know if this can get worse than- ..."_

Numbuh Four felt something moving near him. The closet was full of brooms and other cleaning tools, but there was something different inside.

"What the...?" Numbuh Four began, but he was stopped by a sudden appearance.

"HELLO!"

Wallabee screamed in surprise and jumped in the small space, thus hitting the contents of the closet. The materials fell over him  _and_  the intruder in his hiding place and they eventually collapsed out of the now opened closet.

Numbuh Four found himself submerged by brooms and other objects. But what captured the boy's attention was an imaginary friend, the responsible of the disaster, who was at the moment standing on his chest and looking at him.

"...what's wrong with you, bonehead? Yelling like that?" Wallabee shouted angrily.

The imaginary friend looked at him for some seconds with his red eyes. He was only a bit shorter than Numbuh Four, and his body colour was a pale variety of yellow.

"I like milk chocolate! Do you have milk chocolate?" the friend asked.

Numbuh Four stared at him for some seconds. "...What? I don't have milk chocolate with me! How I am supposed to have..."

"I WANT MILK CHOCOLATE!" the friend shouted, and he began yelling at the top of his lungs. His high-pitched yell was one of the most annoying ones Numbuh Four had ever heard, even Numbuh Three crying was less bothering than this to his ears.

"Calm down! Calm down, you freak! You'll make them discover us!" Numbuh Four tried to stop the friend, but he dodged his attempts and continued to yell.

In fact, Numbuh Four wasn't going to be the one who would have stopped him.

" _CHEEESE!"_

Cheese and Numbuh Four stopped their argue and slowly turned their heads to the newcomer.

Frankie Foster was here, and she didn't look happy at all. Wallabee would have sworn he had seen something burning in her eyes.

And right behind her, there were the Delightful Children From Down the Lane. Who were now smiling at Numbuh Four.

"Oh...  _crud"_ Numbuh Four muttered.

Frankie's raged face turned for a moment to a surprised one as she stared at Numbuh Four. Then, the skin on her face  _reddened_.

"Are you the responsible for all the imaginary friends running in the house rambling on a fire?" she asked with a menacing tone.

Wallabee unconsciously made a step back. "Ahem... Oh, no, of course no! I didn't do anything!"

" _Do not believe him, Miss Frances!"_ Frankie turned to her five guests  _"That's Wallabee Beatles, a bully in our school! He must have followed us in this home and lied to the friends about the fire!"_

When Frankie whirled to face him and Cheese, Wallabee thought that maybe it had not been a good idea to hide in the closet.

He and Cheese, who despite his normal behaviour was not a fool and felt the near hazard, slowly moved back as Frankie got nearer.

"Cheese, you've passed the  _limit._ Now I'm going to give you and your new friend a piece of  _my mind!_ " she growled while picking up one of the brooms lying on the floor.

Cheese and Wallabee watched themselves.

"I don't know you, but I guess that escaping is the best choice by now" Numbuh Four informed.

Cheese made another weird sound with his mouth, sucking in a long breath of air. Then he simply answered: "Okay."

Five seconds later, Wallabee was running for his life, carrying a screaming Cheese over his shoulders. Right behind them, Frankie pursued them with the broom in her hands: "Come back here! I'm not done with you!"

The Delightfuls observed the three but did not follow them. When they disappeared from sight, the shortest boy drew out a cell phone and called someone.

" _The plan is going exactly as we planned. Begin the preparation of the mansion now. For when our new 'allies' will be ready to act, you must have finished your work."_

"At your orders, sirs" a voice responded through the device "We're on our way for Foster's. You won't be disappointed."

The five kids laughed maniacally as they walked away from the scene.

* * *

"I'm not wasting precious Kids Next Door resources for some stupid imaginary friends, Numbuh One!"

Numbuh One put both hands on his head in exasperation.

"Numbuh Eighty-Six, this is a mission sent to us by Global Command itself! Has Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two informed you?"

"She hasn't! And until she says to me so, I'm not sending you anything!"

Numbuh One thought that he needed to tell the Supreme Leader about this issue with the head of Decommission. Of all the persons in the moon base, did she have to be the one to answer his call? He was confident no one other would have refused his request. He was  _also_  confident she wouldn't have refused a similar request coming from another sector that was not sector V.

He was on the upper balcony of Foster's roof and he had previously assembled a 2x4 small but effective satellite dish that let him communicate directly with the moon base, using the 2x4 radio as a microphone.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go look for her!"

"Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two has extremely important matters to attend to, and I'm not disturbing her without..."

"What's going on, Numbuh Eighty-Six?"

Numbuh One thanked goodness that Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two had arrived to put and end to the red head ranting. Otherwise, he would have snapped.

"Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two sir! Numbuh One of Sector V is trying to request for useless backup in..."

Numbuh One heard some noises through the speakers.

"What's the situation, Numbuh One?" Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two asked worriedly.

"We are in urgent need of backup, Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two! The house is in reality a prison for imaginary friends, as you have speculated before, and worse, they plan to get rid of our allies. To make things worse, the Delightful Children are in the house and might be involved!"

Nigel heard Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two sighing. "This is even worse than I thought. All right, what do you need, Numbuh One?"

"We need reinforcements from the Kids Next Door Sectors nearest to us. We need transports for the imaginary friends and operatives to contrast whatever the Delightfuls are planning to do"

"We're not contacting other sectors, Numbuh One" Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two replied "The mission is too much important and I want to get there  _myself._  We're sending you reinforcements straight from moon base."

With that, Numbuh One heard Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two giving fast orders to other operatives. In that moment, a 'beep' sound was emitted from the radio, announcing the arrival of another transmission.

"Numbuh One! We have...  _*pant*_  … we have a  _big_ problem here!" came the stressed voice of Numbuh Four.

"What? Numbuh Four, what is exactly going on?" Numbuh One asked.

In that moment, another voice joined the conversation.

"What's that? I like radios! Gimme that!" the voice said.

"No way! HEY! I said no! Give it back!" Numbuh Four shouted.

"Numbuh Four, state your situation! What is..."

"You're soo BUSTED Cheese! You and your friend!" came a roaring female voice.

Numbuh One heard some yells, then the transmission became static.

"Numbuh Four! Numbuh Four!" Numbuh One called. But no one answered.

"Good lord... Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two! I'm ending the transmission! One of my teammates needs help!"

Nigel was going to turn off the radio when Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two's voice arrived just in time: "Wait, Numbuh One!"

"I know there's no time, I have heard Numbuh Four's transmission too. But while you and your squad were on the mission, our espionage quarters have sent me new data about Foster's. You have to learn about it: it concerns the inactive sector of the town in which you're currently located..."

* * *

Numbuh Four closed the door shut behind him.

He nervously gazed at the room he had hidden himself him. There were no imaginary friends in: it was one of the empty bedrooms of the sleeping quarters, free for potential new imaginary inhabitants.

"No doggies here! We're pre-..." Cheese began, but Numbuh Four snatched the imaginary friend from his shoulders and put one of his hands over his mouth, silencing him.

Cheese tried to rebel to the unexpected act, but he soon stopped as they both listened to a certain voice outside.

"Where are you  _two_?" Frankie shouted from the hallway "You can't have disappeared out of thin air. I know you are somewhere here..."

Numbuh Four resisted the urge to jump when he heard a door being slammed open, the one right next to his one. After some seconds, Frankie walked towards the next door... the one him and Cheese were hidden behind.

_Think, think, think!,_  Numbuh Four desperately tried to build up a plan B of some sorts. But nothing came to his head. He could try to face Frankie with his weapons, but a tiny voice in his mind told him  _that_ was not a good idea at all.

The footsteps come to a stop right in front of the room's entrance.

Numbuh Four was going to move away when some unknown voices called for the vicious young woman outside.

"Frankie!"

"Mac, Bloo! Oh, thank goodness you are here! Do you know what's happening to the other friends? They've freaked out after someone told them there's a fire in the house!"

"We know! We tried to make them reason too... but they did not listen to us!" a boy's voice answered.

"Oh, boy... Just perfect. And now it turns out Cheese and a brat of some sort are probably the ones behind it all!"

"Cheese? What are you talking about? That idiot isn't even able to understand yet where his room is!" a third voice exclaimed.

Wallabee had to force Cheese to stay silent at the not gentle remark. "Quiet! I'm not making that redhead demon know we're here!" he whispered.

"But maybe his new friend is, Bloo..." Frankie said.

"Hey, while we were trying to stop the friends, we saw a girl we've never seen before running in the hallways. We tried to stop her, but she was too fast. Maybe she's involved too..." Mac informed.

Numbuh Four spent some seconds to realize who Mac was talking about:  _Girl? That's Numbuh Three!_  He was going to sigh in relief...

"Yeah! I tried to  _shoot at_  her with my rifle, but I missed her. Stupid girl is a bit too agile for comfort..." Bloo complained.

Numbuh Four swallowed the sigh which went down the wrong way, nearly making him coughing.

"...really? Oh, man, now the house has been invaded by kids. And I think I've lost the one I was pursuing..." Frankie made a long breath and she tried to sum up all the events in her mind. "All right, let's concentrate on your friends now. Do you know where the others are?"

"Wilt was with us, he went to the entrance to stop as much friends as possible from there. We haven't seen Eduardo or Coco, though" Mac explained.

"Hmm... look, I'm returning to the atrium, too. Wilt had a good idea, from there we can try to stop the imaginary friends from leaving the house."

"All right. Me and Bloo will look for Eduardo and Coco. We haven't checked their room yet, maybe Ed is still there!"

"I hope so, Mac" Frankie said "Watch out for those kids, I don't know what they're up to!"

Numbuh Four listened to the three persons moving away. And only when he was sure they were gone he finally let Cheese's mouth open. Who began yelling as soon as he was free.

"Hey! Shut up!" Numbuh Four ordered.

"I don't like you blocking my mouth!" Cheese lamented, glaring at him.

"Look, I don't know who the crud are you. I just had to!" Numbuh Four justified himself.

Cheese was not satisfied with his response, but he had not the chance to complain more.

A scream was heard.

Cheese stared at nothing in particular, dumbfounded, but Numbuh Four had recognized the sound instantly.

"NUMBUH THREE!"

Numbuh Four slammed the door open and quickly watched the surroundings. He verified the direction where Numbuh Three's scream had come from, but someone prevented him from following that lead.

Cheese had grabbed his leg and wasn't letting him away.

"What do you want? I'm busy right now!" Numbuh Four said angrily, ready to kick the friend away.

"You saving the princess?"

Numbuh Four found it hard to register the words, and after that he still didn't believe them. "Huh?"

"I like saving princesses! Let's go!"

"Hey! No way I'm letting you go with me!" Numbuh Four protested.

Cheese instantly began yelling in his unbearable way, and it took only five seconds to destroy Numbuh Four's attempt to free himself of the imaginary friend.

"Stop it! Alright, you can come, just stop it!" Numbuh Four surrendered.

Cheese smiled cheerfully and right away climbed over Wallabee's shoulders, like he did before.

"Yeeeeeee! Let's go, my horse! Let's go save the princeeeeess!" Cheese happily ordered, using the poor Aussie's hair as his reins.

"How I  _always_  end up in these situations?" Numbuh Four muttered as he began running down the hallway with the noisy imaginary friend.


	4. Unforeseen Events

"Here! This way! You three, get outta the path, you're slowing down the others! Come on, we don't have all the day!"

Numbuh Five shouted orders like the best traffic officer in the neighbourhood. The imaginary friends, too frightened to question her, just continued to follow her instructions, and Abigail was confident they would have been able to finish their work long before the reinforcements arrived.

At least, that was her idea until she heard someone screaming.

Numbuh Five watched in amazement a scared Numuh Two, running as fast as he could away from an enraged Coco.

"NUMBUH TWO! What happened?" Numbuh Five shouted.

"The stupid bird!" Numbuh Two shouted back, not stopping running "I couldn't prevent her from reaching...  _pant_  ...the kitchen, and when she realized what was going on- ..."

Numbuh Two screamed another time as Coco tried to peck at him. The bite resulted in the poor boy losing another part of his pants, and Coco, sputtered the cloth away, resumed the pursuit.

"Why are you running  _away_? Where's your weapon?" Numbuh Five asked.

"She destroyed it! I tell you this bird is a monster!" Numbuh Two yelled, running around the cupboards Numbuh Five was standing on. Coco didn't notice her and concentrated on her main target.

"COCOCOCO!"

Numbuh Five raised an eyebrow. She considered the possibility to simply ignore her team mate, but she knew that all the imaginary friends had to be carried outside, even the rebel ones. She therefore drew out one of the weapons she was carrying: a SPICER.

But the black-skinned girl nearly jumped in surprise when the SPICER was literally picked up from her hands by something  _above_ her.

"I'm sorry, but I think this is not a safe toy for a kid of your age. And, by the way... what are you doing here?"

Numbuh Five slowly whirled her body to face the tallest being she had ever seen. This imaginary friend was taller than her even including the cupboard.

"Ehm..." she babbled, momentarily dazed by the sudden appearance "Oh, what are  _you_  doing? Didn't they tell you there's a fire in the house? You have to get out of here!"

The friend gave her an unimpressed look: "Last week we had a fire alarm system applied in the house. If there really was a fire, it would have began ringing by now. Though I wonder why the others had not thought of it..."

Numbuh Five knew right away that convincing this particular friend was going to be a bit more difficult.

"Maybe it's malfunctioning!"

That was not the right answer. Wilt glared at her, his only arm on his hip.

"That's even weaker than the excuses Bloo uses with Mr. Herriman. Right, Coco?"

"Cococo!"

Numbuh Five didn't see that the other imaginary friend, having seen Wilt, had reached him and was by now staring at her with equal distrustful eyes. Hoagie was panting not too far from them, thankful of the temporary truce.

"Look, I'm sorry. But I have to know, all the friends in the house have freaked out! Who are you and why are you telling us these lies?" Wilt asked.

Abigail was sure she had finished her options with the fire story. She still carried another weapon ready in her backpack, but she couldn't fight those two friends together. She had to make them split up.

And to do so, she needed to make a strategic retreat.

Numbuh Five jumped away and upon lading on the pavement, began running like a lightning bolt.

"Hey! Come back here!" Wilt called.

Abigail didn't slow herself down and instead grabbed the arm of a still recovering Numbuh Two, forcing him to run with her.

"Abby! I had just the chance to recover my breath!" Numbuh Two complained.

"I'm trying to buy us some time! We have to deal with those two, so here's what we're gonna-"

"OUCH!"

The two Kids Next Door operatives collided with an obstacle in front of them. When they reopened their eyes, they stood motionless for a moment, astonished.

Wilt was in front of them.

_How was he able to surpass us?,_ Numbuh Five thought quickly,  _that's... like, four times faster than us!_

"Guys, can't you just tell us what is going on? We can help you if..."

Wilt stopped speaking and sighed while he looked at the two kids resuming their escape in the opposite direction.

The two operatives suddenly took different routes in the atrium, heading for different destinations.

"They sure are a little nervous" Wilt commented "...Okay, I'm following the girl Coco. You go for the boy, is that okay?"

Coco, who had followed Wilt, nodded with a wicked smile.

"Coco, we have to discover what's happening, not to capture them!" Wilt specified.

"Cocooo..." Coco said. She winked at Wilt, which made the tall imaginary friend sigh another time, and she darted away after Numbuh Two.

Wilt moved in another direction with long, fast steps, pursuing Numbuh Five.

And in that exact moment, Mr. Herriman recovered from his concussion.

The poor rabbit sat up and soothed his head. "Oh my..." he lamented before realizing the spectacle in front of him.

The foyer was a complete mess. Various decorative objects were scattered on the floor, some of them even reduced to dust.

"What has just happened?" Mr. Herriman said, bewildered. After standing up, he hopped in the atrium and noticed an imaginary friend running down the stairs, a late fugitive.

Mr. Herriman grabbed the friends' ear and angrily declared "I demand you to inform me  _now_  about what has caused this chaos!"

"A fire! There's a fire in the house! Let me go!" The friend shouted, too scared to add more details. He pushed the rabbit away and moved quickly towards the opened entrance.

And through it Mr. Herriman was able to see that a large crowd of imaginary friends was waiting in the garden in front of the house.

"That's preposterous!" Mr. Herriman said "We had a fire alarm system installed last week!"

Maybe he really needed to make a public announce about the new addition to the house. But that was for another moment. Mr. Herriman moved towards the exit, determined in stopping the madness and making all the friends return inside (and clean up the atrium).

* * *

The hallways of the mansion were quiet. Most of the imaginary friends had already escaped, and there was an eerie silence in the rooms.

Still, that was not something that the two saviours, Cheese, the annoying imaginary friend, and Wallabee Beatles, the Kids Next Door operative, were concerned about at the moment.

Numbuh Four stopped his pace at an intersection and watched his surroundings. He wasn't sure what turn to take, so he decided to try asking his weird companion.

"Any ideas where to go, yellow head?" Numbuh Four asked.

"Princess? Yeah! Princesses are in castles, so we go to the castle!" Cheese yelled, still pulling the boy's hair.

_Why do I even bother..._ Numbuh Four thought, passing his hand over his face.

Then, Numbuh Four heard voices not far from his position. Yes, there were two voices talking to each other. A male and a female.

It took him one more second to realize who the female was.

"Shhhh!" Numbuh Four ordered. Cheese stared at him, but before he could do the exact opposite of what he was told, the operative was already at the side of a door.

_All right, let's do it.. three... two... one..._ Numbuh Four mentally counted.

At the end of the countdown, Numbuh Four kicked the door and crashed it away, bursting into the room with a loaded MUSKET in his hand.

What he saw inside left him speechless. Even Cheese remained silent, like he expected more from the  _'castle'_ he had been prating about some seconds before _._

A big imaginary friend was sitting on a chair. The skull belt, the enormous horns and the menacing fangs initially made Wallabee rethink about his idea with the intrusion.

"AAAAHH!"

"Hello!" Cheese said, still on Numbuh Four's head.

Eduardo calmed down at the sight of the yellow skinned friend. "Oh... Hola, Senõr Cheese" he responded politely.

Numbuh Four was completely oblivious to this conversation. More surprising than a scary looking imaginary friend who had gentle matters and spoke Portuguese was the fact that he was sitting to a table were, no matter how he tried to justified it, there were tea cups.

The friend was having a tea party.

And right at the other side of the table there was none other than Numbuh Three, who wasn't at all happy with the style of the arrival of her team mate.

"Is that how you visit your friends?" Numbuh Three complained, glaring at him "If you wanted to join us, you could tap on the door, Wally!"

Whatever answer Numbuh Four was going to say, it had to wait as the blonde boy still tried to realize what was going on.

"...Numbuh Three? What ARE YOU DOING?!" Numbuh Four shouted, finally releasing it all.

Kuki scoffed and crossed her arms offended "Don't you see? I found this cute friend here who was having a tea party, I just had to join him!"

"Senõra Kuki is really a nice girl, little boy" Eduardo complimented "I absolutely didn't mind her presence, on the contrary!"

Numbuh Three giggled at the remark, but Numbuh Four wasn't amused.

"Numbuh Three, I don't know if you remember we are in the middle of a freaking mission! You can't just drop me in enemy territory like that! Why didn't you answer me the radio?"

"Radio? Ohh, that tiny little radio! Must have lost that while I joined a group of imaginary friends. They were all running and screaming and running! I had to follow them what was going on."

Numbuh Four passed again his hand over his face, exasperated. "And how you explain that scream of some minutes ago? You had me... Ehm... Like, I was... Uhm..."

Suddenly, Numbuh Four lacked of words and against his will his cheeks reddened.

Numbuh Three giggled at the sight, not suspecting anything of the real meaning of the event: "Oh, silly! It was a scream of surprise!". She moved her arms towards a group of dolls that apparently were also part of the tea party and grabbed one of them.

A certain rainbow coloured one.

_Oh God, no, not them, not even here..._

"See?" Numbuh Three said excitedly "It's an Imaginary Rainbow Monkey! It's an ultra rare one!"

"Some months ago, some of these cute monkeys were donated to our house. I didn't even know he was a rare one!" Eduardo explained, smiling at one of his 'friends' gaining attention.

Numbuh Four made a long breath to calm himself down. This situation was too nonsense, he had to put a stop to it.

But in fact it was going to get even more nonsense as Cheese jumped down from Numbuh Four's shoulders and marched towards Kuki.

"I saved the princess! Now the prince wants to be kissed!" Cheese yelled. He grimaced in a horrible way in an attempt to put his mouth in a 'kiss' position.

Numbuh Three felt something move in her stomach that she didn't like, and shook her head. "Oh, no, no thanks, little one!" she quickly said.

Cheese was disappointed. Stopped his pitiful play, he glared at Kuki. He would have began yelling in displeasure but Numbuh Four was faster than him.

"That's it!" he shouted angrily. "Numbuh Three! Stand up and move, we have a mission to do!"

"What! We can't just leave Eduardo here, Numbuh Four! We have a tea party to finish!"

"I don't care! We have to make that stupid cow friend and this stupid bonehead go outside with the others!"

"Wallabee! That's rude!" Numbuh Three reprimanded. She had stood up from her chair and had positioned herself right in front of the short Aussie. It was almost possible to see the lighting bolts between the two kids' eyes.

Eduardo cringed at the insult and saddened. That was really the first time someone called him like that. And that was saying something, given all the creative ways Bloo called him.

"You see? You made poor Eduardo sad!" Numbuh Three accused.

"What? It's not my fault he seems to be such a crybaby!" Numbuh Four said.

"I'm not a crybaby! I've already showed it!" Eduardo said, finding more than one trait in common between this blonde boy and his blue friend.

"I want a KISS! NOW!" Cheese interjected, trying to gain attention.

"ENOUGH!"

The voice that ordered for silence wasn't from one of the four occupants of the rooms.

Eduardo, Cheese, Numbuh Three and Numbuh Four turned to the new arrivals.

Mac entered the room with a not friendly at all look with Bloo right behind him, the (fake) rifle aimed at the two intruders.

"I don't know what is going on here, but YOU two..." Mac turned to Wallabee and Kuki "...shouldn't be there. Who are you and what are you doing?"

The two kids exchanged a glance. They immediately left the "Wally and Kuki, worst arguers of the treehouse" mode and turned "Numbuh Three and Four, KND operatives" mode on.

"What do you think is going to make us talk, shorty?" Numbuh Four taunted.

"Umph, look who's talking..." Bloo answered with a deadpan stare,

Before Numbuh Four could reply with another bad choice of words, Numbuh Three said "We're not telling you one bit of it to you! I can't even believe how a kid and an imaginary friend are working for the adults!"

"Adults? What are you talking about?" Mac inquired.

But before the conversation could continue, Bloo made a step forward and aimed his rifle directly at Numbuh Three's head.

"I don't know who you are, but if you don't spill it, I'm going to make you do it!" he threatened.

"You know right that's a water rifle, do you?" Numbuh Four asked, raising an eyebrow.

Suddenly, the boost of courage left Bloo's body and he made a step back in retreat.

"Look, you can't just expect to have us ignore you! You've surely been the ones who have spread the rumors of the  _fire_  in the house, and now everyone is in a panic! Why did you do that?" Mac said, gesturing with his hands.

"It's nothing of your business, and you better not ask anymore!" Numbuh Four replied.

"WAIT!"

Everybody watched Eduardo.

"Mac, di-did you say there's a fire in the house?" Eduardo asked, his voice visibly affected by fear.

"Yes, Ed, but it's just a lie told by-..."

"FIRE! THERE'S A FIRE!" Eduardo shouted before Mac could explain the truth behind the story.

Instantly, the imaginary friend began running in the room, therefore making Bloo and the three kids approach the walls in an attempt to not crash with him.

Cheese didn't follow them. He was too much amused by the scene to do so, and eventually Eduardo ended up circling around him.

Suddenly, the frightened friend stopped his freak-out and grabbed Cheese, raising him up.

"Senõr Cheese! Senõr Cheese! There's a fire in the house! A FIRE! What do we do? What do we do?"

Mac was going to answer him, but Cheese was too quick.

"Continuing to scream and run?" he simply suggested.

Eduardo thought over his words, then he uttered "Good idea!"

Immediately, Eduardo resumed his escape, with Cheese right on his head yelling like an imp.

Before anyone of the other four character could do anything to stop them, the two imaginary friends eventually exited from the room,  _crashing_ into the wall in the process of course.

It didn't take long for their two scared voices to disappear in the depths of the mansion.

"I hope you're satisfied now!" Numbuh Three said, launching an accusing glare to Mac "You've scared Eduardo! Poor friend, he hasn't done anything to deserve that..."

"Like I  _was_ the one who had been saying lies from the beginning!" Mac retorted.

"I wasn't!" Numbuh Three continued "It was Numbuh Five and Two in the entrance of course! And there is al-..."

The girl's mouth was abruptly blocked by a hand.

"Numbuh Three! Keep that mouth shut!" Numbuh Four ordered.

"Wait... there are more of you?" Bloo observed "Gee, Frankie was right when she said the house was infested. I need more water for my gun."

The blue creature's creator rolled his eyes, but he ignored the last sentence, replying to the main issue.

"Frankie and Wilt should be able to deal with them, Bloo... I hope so."

Numbuh Four stiffened at the name of the 'red demon', as he had begun calling Frankie. He on the contrary hoped that Hoagie and Abigail would have been able to stop her, but he had his doubts.

Suddenly, a realization came to Mac's mind.

"That's it!" he exclaimed "The five kids of today! They must be working with these guys! I knew it!"

Wallabee e Kuki exchanged a quick glance, before the latter said "Five? Are you talking of the Delightful Children?"

This time it was Mac's and Bloo's turn to watch each other. "Delightful what?" Bloo said, puzzled.

"Don't play the fake dumb one with us!" Numbuh Four said "We know that they are in the house, and I'm sure they're all behind this prison thing, including you!"

"Prison?" Mac's previous realization fell to that unexpected information "What are you talking about? This is not a prison! Like, it's the exact opposite! A foster home!"

Numbuh Four raised an eyebrow at the insistence of this kid "We've already discovered the truth about this facility, kid. I don't know why you're doing this, but we're not letting you slow us down. You better surrender now...  _or else."_

The eyes of the Aussie were serious and determined. It was in that moment that Mac realized that this guy really meant every one of the words he had said, and wasn't going to let him get in his way.

Bloo didn't share this line of thought.

"Listen here, sissy!" Bloo insulted. He approached Numbuh Four with an affronted behaviour "I'm not surrendering to anyone here! You will regret what you said when I'll..."

Bloo stopped speaking as the front barrel of Numbuh Four's mustard gun was placed right in front of his nose.

"Ahem... Hee, hee... just joking... I'm obviously surrendering..." he corrected, retreating back to Mac.

But even the young boy was out of ideas. Now there were two weapons directed at them as Numbuh Three had drew out her teddy-launching THUMPER.

He decided that a diplomacy solution was their best choice now.

"Hey! There's no need to use those!" he said, referring to the threatening tools "Listen, no one in this house has seen those five kids before! I found them suspicious myself. Can't you just explain who they are? We're not working for them!"

Mac and Bloo moved back as the four KND agents got nearer to them.

"Umpf!" Numbuh Three scoffed "We're not falling for your trick, meanie! We're the Kids Next Door, and we're not..."

"NUMBUH THREE!" Numbuh Four protested.

"Ooops..." the girl apologized, shushing herself with one of her hands.

Bloo had still some guts left ready for use, so he decided it was a good idea to insult the two kids another time.

"Kids Next Door? That's the lamest name I've ever heard! How can you expect anyone to take you seriously with  _that_ name?"

He laughed, apparently confident he was right "Ah! Really, you should change that. It's horrible. Right, Mac?"

Nobody answered.

"Mac? What are you..."

Bloo's speech was left unfinished.

Mac was petrified in position. His eyes were stuck on the two operatives, and his mouth moved like he wanted to speak, but he couldn't.

"Mac? Are you all right? You're giving me the creeps!" Bloo asked. He moved his hands over Mac's face, but he didn't react.

Wallabee and Kuki weren't sure of what to do at the moment. The boy seriously seemed he had just seen a ghost, or worse, the Delightful Children's nail collection.

Eventually, Mac became able to stammer some words. "Kid.. Kids Next Door? You.. you said... Kids Next Door?"

"Well, of course!" Numbuh Three instantly answered. Numbuh Four, resigned, didn't even try to stop her.

"I can't believe it. It's... it's impossible!"

Mac quickly moved back, eventually reaching the sidewall of the room. His skin was turning pale, and he began feeling sweat around his body.

"You can't be really the Kids Next Door! What do you want from us? What are you doing here?" he frantically said.

"Mac! Calm down! Really, what's wrong with you?" Bloo said, a hint of worry in his voice.

"I may be able to answer your question, Bloo"

That wasn't a voice coming from one of the two operatives' mouth.

Numbuh One calmly entered the chamber, his hands hidden behind him in one of his usual postures.

"Oh, great, another one..." Bloo initially said, before realizing what the new arrival had just told him "Wait, you can answer? And how?"

"It's simple, Bloo" Numbuh One said "There's something that you don't know about your creator, Mac. Or should I say...  _Numbuh Two-Hundred-One?"_


	5. Revelation

"Numbuh WHAT?"

Numbuh Three and Four shared a look of disbelief. They weren't believing what Numbuh One's was implying with those words. On the contrary, Bloo limited himself to quirk an eyebrow in confusion.

"Numbuh Two-Hundred-One. Melee combat specialist  _and_  2x4 technology apprentice of Sector IF" Numbuh One explained, not turning his stare from the subject of his speech.

Now Bloo was totally flabbergasted.

"Do you mean this idiot was a Kids Next Door operative?" Numbuh Four was still too dazed to accept the new discovery.

"Technically, he  _still is"_

"WHAT?"

"It's simple" Numbuh One continued "Numbuh Two-Hundred-One didn't quit the Kids Next Door, nor he was decommissioned. A year ago, he simply disappeared and from that time has never returned. Thus, Sector IF was deactivated and his team mates sent to other sectors. We thought until now that he had been lost during an adult attack, but Global Command has just told me he is a daily visitor of this house".

Numbuh Four's eyes wasn't able to do anything but gape, and even Numbuh Three was definitely surprised. In the group, however, the most surprised of them all was the blue imaginary friend.

Bloo's mouth was still opened from the moment Nigel had stated Mac's identity as an operative. When he finished to talk, he slowly turned to his creator.

"Mac... Is he telling the truth?"

Mac was sitting on the floor of the room, leaning to one of the sidewalls. His head was hidden under his arms, and only Bloo's question was able to make him react.

The boy looked at his best friend, and Bloo was once again shocked. His eyes were definitely  _wet._

"Yes... Yes, what he's saying is true..." he lightly said, almost audible.

"You have been a part of a super-secret organization and I didn't know one  _part_ of it?!" Bloo protested, visibly offended.

Mac had still enough force to sigh at the lack of forethought of the imaginary friend. "That's not the problem, Bloo..."

"Indeed" Numbuh One agreed "The problem is that your creator, Bloo, is easily considerable a traitor of the Kids Next Door. He must be captured and brought to our headquarters to be processed for his  _crimes."_

"...You betrayed these guys?" Bloo asked. While he had a long reputation of double-crosser and trouble-maker (of which he was proud of), he knew that Mac wasn't one to do something like that easily, especially if it seemed this serious.

Suddenly, Mac stood up and shouted "NO! I didn't betray these jerks! If anything, they were the ones who betrayed me!"

"Hey, watch your mouth!" Numbuh Three said.

"Yeah, shut the crud up,  _traitor_!" Numbuh Four insulted, already cracking his knuckles.

"He's not completely wrong..." Numbuh One said gravely. Wallabee and Kuki turned to him, astonished.

"Huh?"

Numbuh One made a long breath, preparing himself for an even longer explanation. "Numbuh Two-Hundred-One was a promising cadet at the Kids Next Door Arctic base. He was able to complete the training and gain a position in Sector IF after, like, only three months, with two different roles as I've already said. After some time, during a mission in a candy factory, it was discovered that Numbuh Two-Hundred-One had a rather stunning secret ability."

"Do you mean his sugar freak-outs?" Bloo asked, putting two and two together "It doesn't seem like a big deal! I mean, just do not give him more and everything's solved... right?"

"I'm afraid it didn't go that way" Numbuh One replied "After that single event, it was decided that Numbuh Two-Hundred-One shouldn't get in contact with any sugar-containing object. But the scientists of the Deep Sea base weren't of the same idea."

Mac visibly cringed at this part of the story, but he kept silent, his gaze the ground.

"With the excuse of a help request, Numbuh Two-Hundred-One was brought there and captured. Neither Global Command nor the remaining operatives of Sector IF were able to know anything about it due to excuses of the base. There, Numbuh Two-Hundred-One was kept imprisoned for about a week, before they ran the first of their tests on him."

"But the scientists themselves didn't know of the real power of Numbuh Two-Hundred-One ability, and therefore he was able to escape. Unfortunately, the incident had been sullied, and officially one of the submarines had exploded and the operative was lost in the aftermath. This morning, Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two has discovered that Numbuh Two-Hundred-One was still alive thanks to the investigations of our spies over this mansion, and after some interrogations the entire story was revealed."

"However, back at the time of the incident, Numbuh Two-Hundred-One didn't return to tell us what had happened. He vanished in the shadows, and with the idea he was lost in action, the Kids Next Door didn't look for him."

The tale had a strong effect on the occupants of the room. Numbuh Three looked at the opposite direction from Mac, feeling shame for what had happened to him. Numbuh Four lowered his head, incredibly sharing at least a part of her emotion. Bloo was still trying to manage (and actually  _believe)_  what he had just been told.

Numbuh One approached Mac, who, felling someone near, raised his head to face him.

"I'm sorry, Numbuh Two-Hundred-One. If I had known what had happened, I would have gone there myself along with my team to free you. Those scientists have really something not working in their minds. They once closed a little girl in only because of cooties, and one time they even created a disgusting biological weapon and tested it without asking. The Kids Next Door would never allow something like all of these happen, and  _you know it_."

"Lies!" Mac shouted, an accusing expression on his face "If those guys did  _that_ , then everyone of you is capable to do so! When I escaped I didn't return because I swore I'd no more have had something to do with you,  _ever_!"

His voice quivered as he continued his rant "You Kids Next Door are nothing of what you say! You declare you help kids in the world, but in fact you do the exact opposite! And now you come here and try to destroy the only place where I  _do_  have some friends? I'm not letting you  _do that..."_

Some tears were now visible on Mac's cheeks, streaming down towards the ground.

Numbuh One nevertheless remained impassive, the eyes hidden under his sunglasses "Numbuh Two-Hundred-One, what has happened is terrible. But that did not allow you to hide yourself: a clear rule states that every operative must be loyal to the organization, whatever may occur. If he wants to leave, he has every right to do so, but must tell the KND so. You not only didn't obey that rule, but also turned to the  _adults._ We may have closed an eye about your disappearance due to your unfortunate case, but not to a betrayal. _"_

Mac was sick of that accuse: "I don't know what you have seen, or listened, but this place is  _not_  a prison. We don't have anything to do with the 'adults', like you call them, or those five stupid kids or anyone else! The only thing I'm seeing here is that the ones who used me as a simple  _object_ are now trying to take all of my friends away!"

Some  _'clicks'_ were heard. Numbuh Three and Four weapons were now aimed at Mac. Their faces didn't show any sign of hostility or annoyance now, but they still were determined.

"Your loyalty to your new allies is impressive, Numbuh Two-Hundred-One" Numbuh One complimented "But that's not saving you. We have collected enough evidence that this foster home is not what it claims. I myself have listened to the pitiless plans of the main head..."

With that, Numbuh One drew out one of his two personal SPICERs.

"...I'm giving you ten seconds to surrender."

The flow of emotions that were going through Mac's mind was overwhelming. He didn't even know whether he was able or not to manage all of them at once, but the current situation needed it. Those guys were definitely going to the end of their goal. That meant he was going to lose all of his friends in the house: Coco, Wilt, Eduardo... maybe they would even capture Frankie... everyone... including Bloo.

Mac slightly moved his eyes and for a moment he watched Bloo. The poor imaginary friend was soothing his head, probably feeling an headache caused by the commotion. While it was quite a ridiculous reaction, but the image helped Mac in making his final decision.

After sevens seconds from Nigel's ultimatum, the boy who visited every day Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends was no more Mac, but in fact he had returned to be Numbuh Two-Hundred-One.

With a glare, he cleaned his face from the last tears and moved his hand to reach his backpack. He seemed to look for something under it... and he eventually found it.

Mac pushed a secret button known to no one other than him, and suddenly two metal-wooden wings, 2x4 in design, burst out from the sides of his backpack. The boy jumped while the wings ignited two jet motors at their far ends, and Mac flew in the room, stunning everyone with his sudden move.

That gave Mac some precious seconds, which he intelligently used to grab Bloo, who instantly began screaming as soon as he was lifted from the ground, and escape into the hallway.

Numbuh One shook his head, recovering from the temporary bewilderment. "After him!"

The three operatives started to run with the weapons ready, pursuing the two fugitives.

* * *

"Master Jackie! I demand you to help me bring the imaginary friends inside!"

Jackie Khones, who was for some reason sunbathing on a beach chair, was not pleased with the bothering requests of the imaginary rabbit.

"Now listen, that fire had made me lose my appointment with my beloved sandwich, and I'm trying to do something in substitute. That doesn't include helping the friends return inside. And, by the way, why would you do that, if there's a fire in?"

"How many times do I have to tell you? There's no such thing as a fire in the house! We had a specific alarm added a week ago!" Mr. Herriman angrily said.

"Hmph... Whatever, I'm not helping you" Jackie Khones scoffed. He placed his sunglasses on his unique eye and lay down on the chair, ignoring the friend at his side.

Mr. Herriman was exasperated. His attempts to convince the friends had been useless, and Miss Francis wasn't anywhere in the surroundings to help him in his task. He was pondering to add some choruses to the already long list of the house maker when he heard a scream behind him. When he turned, he saw Eduardo running out of the mansion, Cheese right on his shoulders.

_This is worse than I expected..._ Mr. Herriman thought. He sighed and hopped towards the two, with the purpose to try to calm down the big friend.

However, he wasn't able to hop more than two times, when he felt an hand on his shoulder.

"You're not going anywhere, gentleman."

Mr. Herriman was offended, but he was taken aback to see that it wasn't an imaginary friend that had stopped him. In fact he was a man, an adult of about forty years old. He was dressed in a weird outfit... he seemed to be an ice-cream truck driver.

"Excuse me, sir, but right now we are in the middle of a terrible situation, and I'm not able to... what the? Where are you going?"

The man, who wasn't even listening to him, had walked away, moving towards the entrance. Mr. Herriman followed him, repeatedly asking what he was going to do, but the man persisted in ignoring him until he reached his destination.

Before the rabbit could realize his plans, he slammed the door for the main entrance shut.

"What in the world are you doing? This is a private property, and you have no right to do so! I request you leave at once, or I'll call the proper autho...  _ugh!"_

Mr. Herriman whimpered when he saw the man drawing a weapon and pointing it at him. It was some type of rifle, but it was strange, with the fact the barrel was an ice-cream cone. For some reason, the rabbit knew that behind the funny appearance there was trouble ready to strike him.

" _Shut up"_  the man ordered "And do not talk until I say so. We need all those friends to be out of the garden in five minutes, and you're helping us do it. And before you even think to not cooperate..."

The man aimed the ice-cream rifle at a random target, one of the windows of the first floor, and he pulled the trigger on. The weapon fired a shell that seemed to be an ice-cream ball, but whatever it was it was effective as it passed right through the window, crashing it easily.

Mr. Herriman swallowed. There was no room here for heroic actions: this man had the upper hand. So he thought that being helpful and nice was the best idea for now.

"Of course not! I'm willing to help you, sir!" Mr. Herriman quickly said, forcing a smile on his mouth. The man sent him a deadpan stare and ignored his pathetic show, preferring to prick him with his weapon and make him moving.

The two of them walked slowly towards the crowd, and when they were at the centre of it, the man hid his weapon under his clothes and said "I still have you on my gunsight, Bugs, so don't be foolish and tell them to exit  _now_."

Mr. Herriman instantly obeyed: "Ahem! My fellow friends! I know there has been a commotion here, but now it is our duty to take off and leave the garden of Foster's!"

Some of the friends got that something was wrong, but when they saw that most of them were following the order they eventually let it go. Even Jackie Khones, after grumbling a soft curse, packed his beach chair and joined the group.

"Move." the Ice-Cream man said, motioning the rabbit to walk. They followed the imaginary friends, and after some minutes all the friends that previously were in the garden were now stationed on the road in front of the mansion.

Mr. Herriman noticed that various ice-cream vans were parked on the road: they blocked the way in and out, preventing any car from entering or leaving. Various men dressed like the one who was threatening him were positioned near the trucks, controlling the friends with serious and suspicious stares.

When the last imaginary friend finally left the garden, the men exchanged gestures. Some of the vans right away turned the engines on and their drivers brought them inside the garden. Some vehicles entered through the main cage, others didn't bother and passed directly though the metal fence, crushing it.

"Would you please tell me what are you doing now?" Mr. Herriman asked, not understanding the plans of these men.

"I said don't talk until you're told to do so!" the man repeated irritatedly.

"Lester! Come on, we need you on the windows!"

Lester signalled to the caller that he had acknowledged his sentence, and he directed a last phrase to the rabbit: "Now, me and my colleagues are going to work on your house. Some of us will watch over you, so I'd suggest to not make actions you'll later regret. Clear?"

Mr. Herriman nodded haughtily. Lester was done with him, so he walked away and joined his working companions, while the imaginary friend tried to focus on what the Ice-Cream men were doing. It was hard from the distance, but they seemed to be quiet interested with the windows and the main door. Black, long objects were being carried and put on the various entrances of the house.

They were literally locking the house down.

_For what reason are they doing that?,_ Mr. Herriman thought. He had no clue despite his attempts to think of something, and he ended up hoping that at least all of the friends and people were in the big group outside.

"Senõr Herriman?" a voice said behind him. Eduardo moved to his side: "How much time are we going to wait here for?"

"I fear that we're going to stay here for a while, Eduardo..." Mr. Herriman said resignedly. He pondered over the right words to tell Eduardo about the current situation: "Master Eduardo, these Ice-Cream men, like they seem to be, are not real Ice-Cream men, or at least aren't from this town. We all have to keep calm and not make any of these men annoyed, all right? We need to inform the other friends of... Master Eduardo?"

Eduardo was visibly shuddering in panic. "Master Eduardo, maintain your composure! We are not in need of unwanted attention!"

"It's not me, Senõr Herriman!" Eduardo said "It's Cheese! I left him alone because... because he wanted to ask for an Ice-Cream!"

_"Excuse me?"_  Mr. Herriman said.

"I want an ICE-CREAM CHOCOLATE!" someone shouted not too far from them.

The two imaginary friends immediately began running (and hopping) towards Cheese, who wasn't leaving one of the men alone until he gave him the Ice Cream he wanted.

"Shut up, stupid imaginary friend!" the man said, gritting his teeth.

Mr. Herriman and Eduardo were too far, so they were helpless when Cheese launched himself in one of his most annoying screams ever.

"I WANT ICE-CREEEAAAM!" Cheese shouted, continuing to yell even after the words. The Ice-Cream man decided that he had it enough of being nice with these idiots.

Cheese at first kept yelling, then his voice went down in tone and after some seconds he completely stopped. He had a good reason to do so, as the barrel of one of the ice-cream rifles was now aimed right at his nose.

As if on cue, almost all of the Ice-Cream men who were guarding the friends revealed their real intentions, drawing out their own themed weapons. The imaginary friends were startled: some of them were frightened, others were surprised, a few were perplexed. In any case, all of them agreed that they shouldn't follow Cheese's example.

"Members of Foster's Home!" one of the men shouted, gaining the attention of everyone "We're not going to hurt any of you! All we ask is to keep cool and just wait here while we do our job in your house. When we'll have finished, we'll let you return inside, but until that moment, you should all cooperate and do not bother us!"

"But..." one of the friends began.

"And you shouldn't speak until asked!" the man added, cutting off the friend who dared to open his mouth.

"Dear Lord... I can't believe this is happening ..." Mr. Herriman said to himself. He put his hands on his head, trying to figure out what to do. He eventually arrived to a decision, so he began talking to the friend at his side: "Master Eduardo, there isn't much we can do now apart from making sure that everyone is outside. We'll first look for Miss Francis and the five guests we've welcomed an hour ago, then..."

Mr. Herriman left his sentence go unfinished as he turned and discovered that Eduardo had passed out and was now lying on the asphalt of the road.

_All right, I'll begin without him for now,_ he thought.  _This is strange... but now I really hope that everyone has left the house and is not being locked up. I might not even want to know what those delinquents are planning..._


	6. Escalation

Two figures were running for it in the hallway. Mac's jet-pack had a very  _short_ life, after all he used to be a 2x4 technology apprentice, not an  _officer,_ and that resulted in him and Bloo going back to good old running.

"I hope you have some type of plan B right now, because I sure don't want to encounter those three after what you did!" Bloo said while running.

"I'm thinking! ... hey, what do you mean with that?" Mac asked, catching the hidden accuse.

"I'm just saying you coulda told me more about it... you know, we're supposed to be friends, or not?"

"Bloo, the Kids Next Door are a secret organization! I didn't tell you anything because I wanted to protect you!"

The two of them changed direction at an intersection as Bloo replied "Ah! Good deal! Mac's trying to protect Bloo! Like you actually care..."

"Bloo! We don't have time to argue about this! I'm serious about what I said, and after what happened, I was concerned about what they could do to you if they discovered me!"

Bloo stared forward, willingly avoiding Mac's gaze.

"Bloo... I'm sorry, all right? But-...  _*pant*_  … But now we have to leave this for another moment! Listen, I don't know what the heck those meatheads have seen, but I think we can prove them they're wrong, and the key are those five strange kids we've seen! We have to look for them!"

The imaginary friend was going to retort with another offended answer when they heard shouts from behind.

"Keep running! They must be near!"

"I think I've heard them speaking!"

"Wait 'till I get my hands on 'em!"

 _Oh, no, no, no, no! How can they run that fast?,_ Mac thought. One year of inactivity had indeed lowered his physical abilities, and with Bloo following him things weren't turning good.

The boy kept running and nervously gazed at his surroundings until he decided that they had to try hiding. Without advising, he grabbed Bloo's arm and abruptly stopped, before moving quickly, but  _stealthy,_ towards one of the numerous bedroom doors, entering the chamber and closing themselves in.

The two of them exploited the spare time to recover from the escape. They didn't however have much time, as footsteps were heard in the hallway right out of the room.

"...I'm sure they stopped running. We should find them in one of these bedrooms..."

Then, Numbuh One stopped talking. Mac wondered what he was doing when after only ten seconds he nearly jumped in surprise at the loud noise of a door being abruptly opened.

"Clear!"

_Oh, man!_

"I hope you're happy now..." Bloo whispered, his arms crossed.

"Bloo, I said it's not the time! Just help me get out of this situation!" Mac commanded, a bit peeved by his friend's behaviour.

"And for what reason would I-..." Bloo was cut off by the noise of another intrusion.

**SLAM!**

"Clear!"

Mac decided he needed to solve this thing now. He had to gain Bloo's support, or otherwise they may get captured and sent who knows where.

"Bloo. I'm sorry, all right? I should have told you, I know. But I was very young at the time. It was even before we transferred to this town: I was excited to become an agent of the Kids Next Door, and you can't even begin to realize how much I really was. I was eventually going to tell you, I swear! But then they did  _that_ to me, and I was worried they could try to look for us and thus find you, or my mother, or even that idiot of Terrence! You have to believe me, these guys are danger-..."

**SLAM!**

"Clear!"

This one was too close for comfort. Mac was confident there were only two doors left in the area, so he needed to hurry up with it.

"Can you do this for me, Bloo? Just this time?" he quickly finished.

Bloo stared at him, a bit stunned by the sudden flow of words from Mac. Then, his annoyed expression faltered. For a moment, Mac thought he was going to refuse...

"Next time tell me you have that flying thing in your backpack. I would use some type of weapon now, and I lost my gun when you brought me away... What the? Sheesh, Mac, haven't you just said we're in big trouble?"

Mac hadn't resisted the urge to hug him, even if only for a second. "You don't realize how much this means for me, Bloo. I'll explain, but for now let's-..."

**SLAM!**

"Clear!"

Now the two of them were certain that they were going to be discovered in seconds. But Mac wasn't going to give Sector V the element of surprise. Shushing his imaginary friend due to the hazardous closure of the operatives, he placed his ears on the door and listened carefully.

Even though they were surely trying to keep silent, Mac was able to listen to their movements. When the soft noises stopped, he knew they had only some moments before the three operatives burst in.

His choice: bursting  _out_  before they could do it themselves.

"NOW!" he shouted, slamming the door open. Effectively, Numbuh Three, Four and One were momentarily surprised, and once again Mac took advantage of the opening.

In the blink of an eye, Mac leapt towards the nearest target: Nigel. He landed on his face with his shoes, scoring a direct hit, then he rebounded and jumped away, evading a series of teddy bears shot by Numbuh Three. Bears that ended on the poor Numbuh One, giving him the final strike and making him topple to the ground.

Nobody had noticed that in the fast action, Mac had stolen the SPICER from Numbuh One's hands.

Numbuh Three was going to say she was sorry, but Mac didn't let her have the time to do so. After landing safely, the ex-operative charged at her, doing something unexpected: he let himself slid on the ground, reaching the Asian girl feet-first. Kuki squeaked in surprise when she was hit on her legs and consequently fell.

Numbuh Four had been just watching the scene, stunned, until now, and the new scene achieved the objective to make him return to the real world. "HEY! Get your filthy hands off her!" he shouted before shooting a round of his mustard gun at him.

Mac did the exact opposite. With surprising dexterity he dodged the attack, then he decided he needed to gain the advantage. Without leaving time for Numbuh Three to stand up, he snatched her from the neck and forced her on her knees. To make it clear he was serious, he tightened his grasp and put the SPICER's barrel in contact with her head.

"What the... leave her alone!" Wallabee yelled, trying his best to control the nervousness he suddenly began feeling.

Numbuh One had finally succeeded in standing up. He fixed his sunglasses, who were still intact, and watched Mac. Unlike his blond team mate, he seemed to be perfectly still and cool.

"There's no need to make drastic actions, Numbuh Two-Hundred-One."

"Oh, yeah? So if I let her away, you're just going to pack up and get outta here?"

"You don't know a half of who you're messing with. You better release Numbuh Three now, operative, your situation is already critical and I'd suggest you not to make it worse."

Numbuh Three suddenly tried to free herself, trying to kick the boy away. But Mac was prepared and even though he still suffered a hit, he didn't loose his grip; on the contrary, he tightened even more it, successfully making the poor girl cough.

Bloo was staring at the scene from the bedroom: he hadn't moved of an inch. He was wondering if that boy was really Mac, or if he was a ghost of some sort, because he was really having a bad time in believing what he was seeing.

"You...  _Jerk_...!" Numbuh Four began walking menacingly, and only Numbuh One's hand was able to stop him. "Wallabee, stop! We can't do anything!"

"Now you're going to listen to what I have to say! I-..." Mac started talking, the weapon still ready to shoot to his hostage.

"We've had enough of your stories, Numbuh Two-Hundred-One" Numbuh One stopped "We weren't listening to you before and we surely aren't now."

"But... oh, man, can't you just think about it for a second?" Mac asked. He had no idea how to convince them they were making a mistake. Despite his determination and what those guys did to him in the past, he still didn't like the idea to threaten one of them in order to get them to reason. He however didn't showed this feeling, preferring to send them an annoyed scowl.

"Oh, I'm already thinking of how I'm going to-..." Numbuh Four began, but he couldn't finish his series of threats.

The five of them were located in one of the central hallways of the mansion. There weren't any windows in those parts of the house: when the few lights that were turned on suddenly stopped working, the darkness that fell over them was almost complete.

"What? A black-out? Oh, really... Perfect!" Bloo complained, forgetting the current situation and completely failing to notice the fight noises around him "Really, I don't know if this can get any worse!"

"I'll bet it can..."

A flashlight was switched on, and suddenly the imaginary friend found himself face to face with the blond operative. His look was a little too evil for comfort.

Bloo was only able to say one word before he was knocked out cold.

" _...drats"._

* * *

"Now, I'm sorry, but don't you think we've been running for too long? Could you just please..."

Numbuh Five turned on her heels and zapped away, losing the last words of Wilt's speech. They had been pursuing each other for a good ten minutes now, and she was beginning to feel tired. The friend, on the other hand, had always been able to overcome her and wasn't slowing down. In fact, she wasn't bond to ropes right now only because that friend wasn't trying to capture her, but instead he wanted for some reason to talk.

She wasn't going to let him do that thank you very much.

Numbuh Five appeared on the upper floor of the Foster's atrium. Momentarily stopping to decide whether to return down here or keep going forward, she eyed the area, and realized that the main door had been closed.  _Wasn't that opened last time I saw it?_

"Come back here! Please, I'm starting to think you don't want to tell me what's going on!" Wilt's shout echoed behind her.

Her thoughts were put aside when she heard the noise of Basketball shoes approaching. The girl bolted down, heading for the dining room of the house. Numbuh Five halted when she saw the room was pitch dark. Turning on the few electric lights ready on the chandeliers, she was puzzled to see that all the windows were covered from something that was  _outside._

_What's going on out there? Numbuh Five doesn't like it one b-..._

"Can't...  _*pant*_... You... tell me..." Wilt was right behind her, trying to recover from the long run. He may have had more endurance than her, but it still wasn't unlimited.

For the nth time, the black-haired girl refused to give Wilt an exhausting answer and preferred to escape. Wilt sighed and began following her in the dining room, trying to block her way whenever he could.

Numbuh Five was feeling her legs sore. Giving the surroundings a quick gaze, she noticed the chandeliers and an idea popped in her mind. It was a bit crazy, but he hadn't much options.  _All right, here goes nothing..._

Suddenly, the girl jumped over the table from one far end of it and began moving over it. Wilt had the bad idea to follow her, and with his long legs he stumbled in the limited space between the chairs, risking to fall various times.

That gave Numbuh Five enough time to reach for her backpack and draw out another new gadget.

* * *

 _Kids Next Door:_ _**P.U.N.C.H.E.R.** _

_Powered Unkind Nudger Cleverly Hitting Enemies Rudely_

* * *

Wilt stopped when he saw the form of a red, big boxing glove being pointed at him.

"Hey! That's not something you should play with! Careful!" Wilt warned, raising his only arm in an attempt to protect himself.

But Numbuh Five didn't want to shoot the weapon at Wilt. She was interested in it for its mechanism: the glove wasn't sent away by a jet missile or exploding gunpowder, but instead it was thrown by a simple string. An extremely powerful one.

Numbuh Five granted herself the chance to mock at a surprised Wilt, waving at him with a smile. Then, she aimed the weapon to the ground and let it make contact with the table. Eventually, she pushed the trigger.

The spring, felling resistance on the front, expanded itself in the only other way possible: the opposite one. That meant that Numbuh Five was literally launched upwards by the elastic force. Wilt was startled and couldn't help to gape at the girl who moved in the air agilely and ended her flight on one of the chandeliers.

The surprise on Wilt's face was soon replaced by worry and a bit of annoyance. "You aren't allowed to stay here! Get down, you'll hurt yourself!"

Numbuh Five rolled his eyes and stuck her tongue at him in response. Wilt sighed and marched on the table until he was right under her. He was tall, but not enough tall to reach her.

"And now how I am supposed to help you get down? … wait, what are you doing? Stop it, it's dangerous!"

Numbuh Five was literally swinging on the chandelier. At every cycle she used her weight to gain momentum and increase her speed.

Wilt continued to protest, but the girl wasn't listening. It was only when it was too late that Wilt realized what the girl was planning.

Suddenly, at the end of a cycle, Numbuh Five kicked the chain that linked the chandelier with the ceiling. The metal, already weakened by the previous swings, easily broke under the hit, and the big object instantly began falling. Right over the tall imaginary friend.

"Ugh..." Wilt said before he was knocked down. The chandelier crumbled over him with a loud noise, creating a huge cloud of dust. From that cloud Numbuh Five appeared, smiling to herself and cleaning her hands.

When the dust cleared, Wilt's body appeared amongst the debris. He was alive, all right, but a group of birds cooing over his head would have been quite appropriate to describe his current state.

"Piece of cake..." the girl said proudly. But before she could celebrate more, she heard sounds coming from the hall.

She took a peek from the edge of the dining room, seeing the same scene as before: Numbuh Two being pursued by a fierce Coco.

" _COCOCOCO!"_

"Numbuh Two! Get it done already, we can't lose more time with these two!"

"If it were easy, I'd already be done with her!" Numbuh Two shouted back, sprinting in the room with the imaginary bird right behind him.

Numbuh Five was actually considering to forget about him, but her duty as an operative convinced her to ignore those thoughts. She sighed and sprinted towards the two of them. Coco was too much concentrated to care about her, an error that Numbuh Five was going to take full advantage of.

Before the imaginary friend could realize she was also being pursued, Numbuh Five jumped forward and grabbed her paws. Coco screamed in surprise as her momentum brought her to the ground and they skidded on the floor. When they came to a halt, Numbuh Two was over her before she could react and he blocked her beak with a ready-to-use rope.

"Gotcha!"

After twenty seconds, Coco stared at the two operatives, Armageddon nearly exploding in her eyes, but nonetheless bound from feet to head.

Numbuh Two couldn't help to mock the imaginary friend: "Eheheh! See who's the captured dude now!"

"Let's not waste more time, Hoagie" Numbuh Five interrupted "We still have to tie up the tall one in the other room, then we need to see why the doors have been..."

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?"

Numbuh Five and Two froze. The tone of that voice wasn't kind at all. When they turned to look at the newcomer, they hoped they were invisible.

Unfortunately, they weren't.

The 'Red Demon' was over them, and she wasn't pleased with what she was witnessing too. Two more unknown kids of the same age of the previous one. A complete mess in the hall. Coco being tied up with ropes all over her body, trying to say something but ending up with some " _Mmmpphhh!"_

Frankie Foster kept still a broom in her hands, the same one she used to pursue Numbuh Four. Her grasp on it was so tight the wood of the stick looked like it was going to break apart.

" _You brats are in BIG TROUBLE!"_

One second later, Numbuh Five and Two were running for dear life side by side, with an enraged Frankie Foster trying to swing her broom like a sword to them.

The two of them, however, weren't even able to begin think of a plan to get out of their difficult situation when things began to escalate.

They were heading for the dining room when Wilt appeared right on the door, a bit worn out but still standing with a irritated look.

"I'm sorry, but that was really too much!"

Numbuh Five and Two changed their direction, but their run came to a definitive stop early afterwards. Coco blocked their path, with a stare that could have made Count Spankoulout scream like a baby. How she had been able to free herself, or better how she had been able to obtain that pair of scissors there, was beyond them.

They soon realized they were surrounded. Frankie approached them, ready to strike at the minimal movement. Wilt closed the only other way out of the 'triangle' the three of them formed, his hand ready to catch whoever tried to get out from his side.

"I would say it's time to bring out the big guns..." Numbuh Two suggested.

"I guess we don't have any choice..." Numbuh Five agreed.

In the blink of an eye, Numbuh Five drew out her remaining weapon, the second SPICER she was carrying with her, while Numbuh Two aimed a SCAMPP laser rifle at the three inhabitants of the house.

"Hands up!" Numbuh Five ordered.

Suddenly, the angry faces disappeared, replaced with surprise and fright. Coco screamed and went back, keeping the distance. Wilt raised his arm almost instantly: "Yes, yes, just watch what you do with that thing!". Frankie was dumbfounded at the appearance of these weapons, so Numbuh Five helped her recover by shooting a spray of boiling chili pepper sauce from her gun right at the side of the redhead. "HEY! I did nothing!" she complained, although she still raised her hands up in surrender, dropping the broom to the floor.

The two operatives quickly ordered the three inhabitants of the house to regroup, in order to have all of them in one place.

"Okay, they aren't harming a fly... What now?" Numbuh Two asked.

"We better contact Numbuh One. We haven't heard from him or Numbuh Three and Four for a while, and-..."

Suddenly, the lights went out.

"What the... HEY! DON'T YOU DARE!"

Numbuh Five was fast: she instantly powered the flashlight that was installed on her SPICER to control Frankie, Wilt and Coco. Wilt hadn't moved of an inch, while Frankie and Coco quickly returned to their position, smiling at her: "Ahem... just joking. Right Coco?" Frankie laughed. "Coco!"

Numbuh Five rolled her eyes. She continued to keep them under her sight until Numbuh Two successfully installed another flashlight to his SCAMPP.

"I don't like this. Why did the lights black out? Numbuh One would've told us if it was part of the plan!" Numbuh Five wondered, thinking about possible causes of the lack of light

"Wait... you're saying you aren't the ones who made the lights black out?" Frankie asked, confused.

"Silence! For what we know, you might be the one who caused it!" Numbuh Two accused.

"Me? Could you please tell me what's wrong with you, you little..." Frankie said.

"Enough!" Numbuh Five yelled. Both Frankie and Hoagie gave her an annoyed look, but she ignored them, concentrating on the 2x4 radio. She now  _really_ needed to contact the others: she could tell something was going to happen, and she sure wanted to be prepared for when it did.

* * *

The world around Mac was dark and dull. There was no feeling nor sensation, and the boy was positive he was gone for good. It was therefore unexpected for him to suddenly regain the control of his body. Trying to resist to the big headache he was feeling, he shook himself in an attempt to speed up the process, but the action had another effect: he realized his hands were tied up behind him.

When Mac finally managed to open his eyes, he the first thing he saw was... black. Again. The lights were definitely still out, and there were no windows to let the sunlight in... nor there were flashlights, or any sign of the Kids Next Door operatives who had captured him.

Mac tried to pull his hands away, but the rope was strong and remained unfazed. The attempt, however, made him aware of the fact that  _someone_  was tied up behind him.

"...Bloo?" Mac whispered.

"Oh, you're alive. I was already thinking of the sentence to put on your grave, you know" Bloo sarcastically said.

Mac would have slapped him, but at the moment his range of actions was limited.

"We don't have time for sarcasm! We must try to free ourselves befo-..."

"You're not going anywhere, Numbuh Two-Hundred-One."

Mac narrowed his eyes, trying to protect his eyelids from the sudden lights that were turned on.

The operatives had waited for them to wake up from the stun, meanwhile hiding in the darkness. Numbuh Four and One were right in front of Mac, weapons ready. There was another light that was behind him, suggesting that the other side was guarded by Numbuh Three.

"Slept well? 'cause it may be your last one for a while..." Numbuh Four taunted.

"Actually yes, given the fact I had not seen your face for a while" Bloo retorted.

"What? You better not mess with..." Numbuh Four threatened, but Numbuh One stopped him.

"Quiet. We aren't in need of more arguing here. Numbuh Two-Hundred-One, you're going to be brought to the Moonbase for further investigation on your crimes. Your imaginary friend is going to be secured with the other ones,  _out_ of this place".

Mac didn't need to be told of something he was already well aware of. He may have been caught  _and_ doomed, but that didn't mean he was already giving in. He'd at least make an attempt to save the house and his friends.

"Man, I can't believe you think this is some type of prison or slavery camp or worse! I mean, come on! It's a freaking foster home!"

"Shut up!" Numbuh Four ordered, aiming his MUSKET at Mac.

"Lying is not going to help you now, Numbuh Two-Hundred-One" Numbuh One said "I'll give you an advice: keep silent until... wait."

Numbuh Four and Three glanced curiously as Numbuh One took something out of his pockets: it was his 2x4 mini-radio, and it was vibrating. The boy wasted no more time in answering the call.

"Numbuh Five? Report your situation. … Well, it doesn't sound that bad..."

"Hey, we want to hear from them, too!" Numbuh Four protested, followed by a nod and a "Yeah!" of agreement by Numbuh Three.

"All right, all right... Wait a second, Numbuh Five..." Numbuh One said as he pushed a lever on the back of the mini-radio and the device buzzed.

"Guys? You're all right there?" the voice of Numbuh Two called form the radio's speaker, now audible from a good distance.

"We're fine, Hoagie!" Numbuh Three answered "There was this meanie who almost had us, but we gave him a piece of our mind!"

"Meanie? Who are you talking about?" Numbuh Five inquired.

"It's a long story, Numbuh Five. To keep things short, we now have a suspected traitor and an imaginary friend under custody, and we need to bring them out with the others." Numbuh One said.

"Imaginary friend? Bloo? Ed? You're there?" a female voice shouted through the speaker.

"Frankie! What happened? Did they capture you too?" Mac quickly asked, relieved to hear her voice, but he was forced to silence himself when Numbuh Four positioned his gun right in front of his face.

"I'm sorry, but capturing our friends is not... Hey, careful with that! Okay, I'm not talking any more, just don't shoot me!" Wilt's voice said.

"Cococo! Coco!" Coco seemed to be preoccupied by something, probably the same reason that made Wilt stop his speech.

Now Mac was certain they were in trouble, given the fact that  _both_ the two groups of them had been caught by the KND.

"It seems that we all have someone under custody..." Numbuh One stated absently. He watched his two teammates while he continued to keep the radio on "Team, Numbuh Five has just told me that practically all the imaginary friends have abandoned the house, thanks to her idea with the fire story. I've contacted the moon base, and Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two should arrive with the reinforcements soon. Numbuh Two and Five, keep your position and your prisoners under control. We'll reach you as fast as we can."

"Wait! I haven't told you of something, Numbuh One!" Numbuh Five informed "Someone has closed the main entrance and covered the windows from outside!"

"...excuse me?"

"It's true, Numbuh One!" Numbuh Two confirmed "This door is closed, or something is blocking it from the other side! I can't open it!"

The first ideas that came to the operatives' minds were directed to their hostages.

"You should tell us what is going on, dumbface" Numbuh Four requested, glaring at Mac.

"I don't know a single thing of what's going on! You just popped out of nowhere and everything just got worse and worse from that moment, so  _you_ should be the ones who know something!"

"Ah! Like we're the ones who caused the black-out! It was surely a trickery of yours!" Numbuh Four accused.

"Hey, do you mean you weren't expecting the black out?" Bloo asked.

"Of course, idiot!  _You_ are the ones who planned it from the start!"

"The only thing I've planned was an infiltration mission in the dining room! And..."

"Ahem! Numbuh Four, stop your bickering! Numbuh Five, is there one of the two adult heads of the house with you?" Numbuh One asked.

"Yes, the young one, Numbuh One" Numbuh Five confirmed. Numbuh One decided that he needed to talk directly with her.

"Francis Foster, for your own interest you should answer my questions at once. What are you adults doing?"

"Adults? There are only my grandmother and me in the house. And I don't know what's going on outside... In fact, things have begun getting crazy from the moment I saw that stupid blond brat... who I guess was one of you!"

Numbuh Four suddenly felt his legs weak, trembling with fear at the mention of himself from the Red Demon.

"Why don't you adults just surrender?" Numbuh Two grumbled through the radio "We all already know about the truth about this house, and a platoon of Kids Next Door reinforcements will arrive in moments! Doesn't it just make you lose your hope or something?"

"I don't even know who the Kids Next Poor are!" Frankie replied "You brats have really something wrong in your mind!"

"What? There are more of them coming? Oh, that's just the cherry on the top of it..." Bloo muttered.

"We've had it of your pretending of being oblivious. Numbuh Five wants to get this mission over, with or without your help!" Abigail was starting to feel those guys were playing with them.

"But we're oblivious! I mean, we don't know what or who is blocking  _all of us_  in, we don't know who you are, and we have no clue of what you're babbling about your prison thing and adult stuff!" Frankie said.

"Ah, right?" Numbuh Two said "Let's say you're right. How do you explain the Delightfuls in your house?"

"Delightful what?" Frankie seemed to have no idea what those kids were talking about.

"Frankie, it's the kids that have came to the house!" Mac suggested, exploiting the fact that Wallabee was distracted by the conversation. He was at the moment cursing himself for not remembering of the Delightful Children when he saw them in the afternoon. Sure, he had been active as a KND for little time, and he hadn't had the chance to see them personally, but he still had been told about them.

"Those? Who knows them? I've been showing them the friends when the first of you... oh,  _dang!_ I've completely forgotten about them!"

The speaker of the radio remained silent for some seconds. Mac would have bet the kid who had addressed Frankie was confused by her answer.

...

"What do you mean with 'I've been showing them the house?" Numbuh One said, eyebrows quirked.

"Well, they've come there to adopt a friend, so I was accompanying them while they looked for someone to pick. It's a thing I almost always do when a new adopter comes to the house..." Frankie explained. Numbuh One watched the radio in confusion.

"Do you mean you haven't seen them  _ever_  before?"

"Yeah. And that's saying something, I dunno if it's possible to forget about them given their appear-..."

"LIAR!" Numbuh Four shouted, cutting Frankie off through the radio "We've been played by adults too much times before, and I'm not allowing it to happen again!"

"Hey, I remember this voice... you...  _brat!_  Let me get my hands on you and I'll...!" Frankie threatened.

"Stop it you two!" Numbuh Five's voice shouted, stopping the argue before it could get worse "We don't have time for- ..."

The operatives on the upper floor waited for some seconds before they actually realized Abigail wasn't going to finish the sentence.

"Numbuh Five?" Numbuh One called.

"I'd really like not to tell you this, Numbuh One..." Abigail said through the radio "...but I think a good part of our doubts are going to be resolved  _very soon..."_


	7. Foster's Next Door

"Senõr Maac! Senõr Maac!"

"Miss Frances! Where are you located? State your position if you hear me!"

"I cannot find anyone!"

"I instead cannot believe you actually made me abandon my beach chair for  _this!"_

"Frankly, I doubt that Wilt would be difficult to find, given his height..."

"Cococococooooo!"

"Was that Coco?"

"No, it's Cheese who's acting as usual..."

Mr. Herriman, Eduardo, Cheese and a small group of other imaginary friends had been looking for their friends for twenty minutes now. However, none of them had been able to find either them or someone who saw them, and they were all beginning to lose hope.

Mr. Herriman suddenly stopped his hopping and swung his hands in the air, groaning in frustration.

Eduardo was in the surroundings and he approached him, full of worry: "Senõr Herriman... If we can't find them, does it mean that...?"

"I'm afraid the answer is yes, Master Eduardo" Mr. Herriman answered, guessing the question the imaginary friend found difficult to ask "If they're not here, it means that they're still inside, and therefore trapped there."

"I don't understand! Why would those meanies block the others there?" Eduardo said.

"It's only one of many doubts we have. I hate to say this, Master Eduardo, but I think the most right action to do now is to wait. These delinquents have been clear..."

"Hey! I say let's kick 'em butts!"

Eduardo and Mr. Herriman immediately watched the one who made the suggestion. Cheese didn't feel timid and, on the contrary, grinned a them.

Eduardo cringed at the idea. He normally despised the idea to fight, and he sure wasn't convinced now that their foes were armed, numerous and determined.

Mr. Herriman didn't like the idea, too. He frowned and directed an angry glare at the little imaginary friend. "Violence is out of question, Master Cheese. We're not going to resort to such low solution. Furthermore, we've no power or strength able to oppose-..."

"Hello guys!"

Mr. Herriman, Eduardo and even Cheese widened their eyes in surprise. They knew that voice... it couldn't really be  _her,_ could it?

"What's up? The cat stole your tongue?"

Mr. Herriman put an hand on his face: "Oh, please, not  _her_ , not  _now_..."

Goo marched towards them, a big smile on her face, seeming completely unaware of the current situation.

"Hello, Ed! What happened? Why are all the friends out of the house? Have you seen Wilt? There was this Basketball player today visiting my school, I have to ask him if he knows him! Where is Mac? Has he already arrived at the house? Mr. Herriman, you look like you've seen a monster!"

The above-mentioned rabbit decided they needed to stop the girl's fast speech before she could get noticed by the Ice-Cream men.

"Miss Goo!" Mr. Herriman whispered "Shhh! How have you been able to sneak in? The perimeter is guarded by armed ice-cream people!"

Goo raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you haven't eaten something bad this morning?"

"I didn't... Argh, never mind..." Mr. Herriman gave in and accepted the fact the guards had somehow missed her "The fact is, someone has tricked the friends in leaving the house, and when I tried to make them return, those delinquents stopped me and threatened us until we were out of the garden. Now we're blocked here while they're literally locking the house up. We have been trying to find Miss Frances and Miss Coco as well as Master Mac, Master Wilt and Master Blooregard, but I fear they are still inside Foster's..."

Goo pondered over his words for some moments before replying "Well, what are you waiting for? Go make them realize who's the  _real_  owner of the house!"

Mr. Herriman blinked. He needed five more seconds to conclude what Goo was actually suggesting.

"As I've just said to Master Cheese, violence is not an available option, because..."

"Gimme a break! There are more friends there than them, and they don't seem  _that_ dangerous if they had not seen me getting in! Come on, you can't just wait there, they just shooed you from your home!"

"That's not a good reason to..."

"Nah-ah!" Goo shushed him "Now I'll show that the friends here share my idea!"

Mr. Herriman began scolding the girl, but Goo had already forgotten about him. Without listening to the rant, he approached Eduardo and put an hand on his shoulder.

"Ed, I know you. I'm sure you agree with me, do you?"

"Ahem... I don't know, Senõra Goo... Are we sure that...?" Eduardo babbled.

"Perfect! I knew I could count on you, Ed! Now let me get over you, I need an upper position!" Goo continued.

Eduardo was too much terrified to reply to the quick speech of the black-haired girl, so he just sighed while she climbed over him. Eventually, Goo stood up over Eduardo's head and watched all the friends that were around her.

"HELLOOOO!"

Gaining everyone attention was easy, given the fact that not much of them had been chatting to pass time, with the life threatening weapons aimed at them and all. Every friend now was concentrated on Goo, who smiled and continued her speech.

"Friends of Foster's Home! What are you doing here, standing idly?"

"Ummm... waiting for the fire to be extinguished?" the green moustached friend said.

"No!" Goo denied "You have been forced to leave your very own house, the place where you live, the home you have found, the..."

"Yes, yes, we got the point, girl!" Jackie Khones interrupted, rolling his eye.

"Are you sure you can manage this...?" Eduardo asked. Deep inside the friend hoped that Goo would reconsider her idea in convincing the friends to rebel to the Ice-Cream men.

Goo leaned down and put her head, upside down, in front of the friend's one: "I'm improvising, you know! Just let me get used to the role!"

The girl stood up and faced the crowd another time.

* * *

"Hey, what's going on here?" A guard asked to his companion, not too far from Goo.

The other man watched the commotion which was happening in front of them.

"It seems like there's a friend of some sort who's saying something to the others. Strange, though... that friend seems like a human kid..."

"I don't like the sound of that..." the other guard commented "Father is going to tear our heads off if we don't please his children. Let's go there and put a stop to it, whatever it is..."

"Oh, relax for once! These friends aren't able to hurt a fly by the way!"

* * *

"The important fact, my friends, is that you cannot just wait there!"

"Really? We've just been doing that until now!" Jackie Khones responded.

"True, but what you're going to achieve with that?"

The arguing friend remained silent.

"Exactly.  _Nothing._ What I'm trying to tell you is that we have to rebel to these bad guys... I mean, I don't even understand why you didn't it before, those are Ice-Cream men, for crying out loud!"

"But they have weapons!" the octopus pink friend said.

"And they mean their business!" another friend added.

"And they're scary!" Eduardo cried.

"And then? Is that a good reason to let them close your house up? Is that a good reason to let them lock some of our friends inside? Is that a good reason to let them do everything they want with your home?"

Goo waited for a response for some long, quiet seconds.

"No... no, it isn't!"

"Yes, we cannot let them do that!"

"They threatened me with their stupid ice-cream gun!"

"They watched me like I was stupid!"

"They're closing the house while it is on fire inside!"

"They insulted me for my state-of-the-art make up!"

"I like chocolate milk, and I didn't get it!"

While everyone had his own way to agree, Goo was satisfied with what she had achieved. Before she could say the last, most important sentence, a hand stopped her.

"You're not going to do that, young girl!" Mr. Herriman said "I'm not doing anything while you incite the friends to do unreasonable things!"

"Of course, Mr. Herriman" Goo replied, unexpectedly smiling at him "You're going to help us with it, too!"

Mr. Herriman was too bewildered to react. Goo freed herself from his now weak grasp and moved her fist up in the air.

"Thus, it is time that the friends of Foster's must take the upper hand and regain what was taken from them!"

_This is not real..._  Eduardo thought, his eyes clenched shut while he heard shouts and cheers around him.

* * *

The guard glared at his companion, which was by now visibly shuddering of fright. Not for the other guard, of course.

"When this is all over, you're sooo going to get it..." the guard said before they were overrun by dozens of angry imaginary friends.

* * *

Goo was right: the friends were a lot and the vast group was able to incapacitate all the guards positioned to look after them in no time.

The girl was still on Eduardo's shoulders, but the friend had not made a single step.

"Ed? Ed, wake up, it's not a good moment to take a nap!"

"Do we really have to, Senõra Goo?" Eduardo complained, slightly opening this eyes "I don't want to fight those ugly men!"

"Listen, don't you want to help our friends? What about Wilt and Coco? Mac and Bloo? Frankie?"

"Yes, but not in this way..."

"Aww, it's going to be fun, Ed! Trust me!" Goo reassured. She consequently lightly slapped him on the head to spur him, and Eduardo was forced to walk forward. The friend, however, persisted in keeping his eyes closed.

By now, every guard on the road had been captured or knocked out, so the mob of friends regrouped around Goo. The girl gazed at the garden. Their sudden action had not went unnoticed: the Ice-Cream men were streaming from their work positions, loading their guns and putting themselves in formation. Goo was aware of the fact that it was going to be tough, but she was confident in the strength of the friends of the house. She had been an almost daily visitor of the house for too long, just like Mac, and she basically knew every one of them.

They would have been able to defeat the Ice-Cream thugs.

And besides, she absolutely needed to talk with Wilt to make him do those basketball tricks she had seen back at school, and nobody was going to stop her!

The army of imaginary friends moved forward, leaving alone one, astonished rabbit. Mr. Herriman had been gaping for the entire time of the first skirmish, and now that the implications of the events dawned on him, he simply let himself fall to the ground. There he lay, staring at the sky of the late afternoon, almost breathing.

By now the friends were at the edge of the garden, where the metal fence was located... at least, what remained of it. Suddenly, Goo exclaimed with joy "Oh, my! Oh, my! I have to say that, I absolutely have to say that!"

She leaned down and watched Eduardo "Oh boy, Ed! You really need to listen to this one! I heard a kid saying it at school some weeks ago, I don't even know why, but it sounded so cool and epic!"

Eduardo did not reply, instead putting his paws in front of his face, covering it from the girl's sight.

"You'll like it!" Goo said while she stood up and prepared herself to give the ultimate order.

" _Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends... BATTLE STATIONS!"_

* * *

Numbuh Two cleaned his pilot googles with a little rag he kept in one of his pockets. It was an unwanted act: it was clear that what he was seeing was true.

He and Numbuh Five had right away stopped to care about the three inhabitants of the house behind them as they saw who had appeared. Frankie, Wilt and Coco didn't take advantage of the situation anyway, as they were surprised as well.

There was a bigger problem now, one who was in the form of five, well dressed and evil looking youngsters.

The Delightful Children From Down the Lane.

The five well-behaved kids were standing on the top of the front stairs of the foyer. Numbuh Five and Two had heard their steps when they arrived, and they were visible now thanks to the flashlights on the SCAMPP and the SPICER the two operatives were wielding.

" _Hello, Kids Next Door! What a nice moment to meet you!"_ The Delightfuls said in their usual manner.

"You can cut the play off, delightful dorks" Numbuh Five said, the hand ready on the trigger "We know you're up to something, and we're prepared for it!"

Her other hand was keeping the mini radio, which was still on. The radio emitted a British accented voice: "Delightful Children. I'm unimpressed to find you here..."

" _You were waiting for us, Nigel?"_ The Delightfuls laughed  _"For us, it is a real surprise to see you here. We have come there only to adopt a tiny, adorable imaginary friend..."_

"I think they're sarcastic" Wilt said.

"Agreed, Wilt.. I have lost any hope in understanding what's going on..." Frankie complained, scratching her head.

Coco did not say anything, since she was still open-mouthed.

The radio speakers buzzed another time "As Numbuh Five has already told you, you can stop your pathetic show. We're not playing your game. What are your intentions? What role do you have in the organization of this structure?"

The five kids smirked.  _"Us? Only one month ago we didn't even know of the existence of this house, Nigel! After watching a simple TV commercial, we were fascinated by it. When we realized how old the house was, we had to help the house in some way..."  
_

"Help?" Frankie said "Do you mean... you're the anonymous benefactor who paid for the fire system which was added to the house?"

" _Of course, Miss Frances!"_ the five children said, perfectly synchronized  _"We assure you that the fire alarm is of the best brand available in the marker! Of course..."_ their tone changed now, sounding more serious and wicked  _"...we decided to put a little addition to it... Like this."_

With that, the tallest boy out of the five kids raised his hand, showing the silhouette of a remote controller.

Wilt, Coco and Frankie were confused, but Numbuh Five and Two had right away realized what the scene meant.

"You're the ones who caused the black out!" Numbuh Two stated matter-of-factly.

" _Exactly, Hoagie!"_ the Delightfuls confirmed  _"We needed to turn off every light in the house and cover every possible window, in order to have the house full of nothing but darkness."_

"But why? I'm sorry I haven't understood yet..." Wilt said "...but why are you doing  _all_  of this?"

" _We're the ones who are sorry, kind friend"_ the Delightfuls said  _"We're sorry that you, your interesting looking friend and Miss Frances are going to end up in the middle of the resolution of our problem..."_

"Problem? What problem?" Frankie asked.

" _Destroying the Kids Next Door! And disposing of Sector V will be the first act of it!"_ the kids uttered, five fingers pointing at Numbuh Two and Numbuh Five.

Now Frankie, Wilt and Coco were all  _worried._

The operatives, on the other hand, were all but frightened by the threat.

"Whatever you're planning, delightful dumbheads, you're going to fail!" Numbuh Five declared.

"Yeah! We defeated you before, and we'll do it again!" Numbuh Two added.

"It'll be my pleasure to make you remember why you have failed so much times!" Numbuh Four said, his voice brought in the hall through the radio.

"You won't win any time soon, you creepy kids!" Numbuh Three added her two cents.

The series of sentences ended with Numbuh One's last affirmation: "The Kids Next Door are not going to be beaten easily, Delightful Children. I'd suggest you to surrender, but you're too dumb for it, so we'll make sure to put an end to this story now..."

" _But Nigel! You haven't let us introduce our new friends!"_

The two operatives froze, and probably their three team mates on the upper floor did the same.

"...friends?" Numbuh Two inquired.

" _Imaginary friends!"_ the Delightfuls specified  _"You see, we really wanted an imaginary friend, but at the last moment we thought: why not creating our own instead of adopting one! We've already did it and, boy, aren't they adorable!"  
_

_I don't like where this is going..._ Frankie thought.

Indeed, something not good happened.  _Sounds_ were heard around them. They were quick and almost audible, but enough to make the five of them feel unsafe. Numbuh Five continued to keep her light on the Delightfuls, while Numbuh Two moved his laser rifle from place to place, trying to locate whoever, or  _whatever,_ was hiding in the shadows.

" _We right away informed them about you, and they were so much interested! It seems like they're already here: they have been so looking forward to meet you... they almost needed it as much as hunger!"  
_

"Hunger?" Numbuh Two said, feeling a tremble going through his spine.

" _We don't want to disturb you while you get to know our imaginary friends... We wish you a pleasant and interesting meeting! And, before we forget... Don't worry, Nigel, Wallabee and Kuki. Another group of our friends will soon arrive to meet up with you..."_

The Delightful Children laughed evilly, and they continued to do so while they walked away and eventually disappeared in a hallway. Numbuh Five would have followed them, but at the moment there were more important matters to care about.

The girl quickly regrouped with Hoagie and the two of them put themselves back to back. Their weapons were never in the same position for more than a second, always moving to light up another zone. However, nothing had appeared to attack them. At least, not  _yet._

The noises were now clearer and louder than before. It was when a growl was heard, however, than the other three occupants of the hall realized they had been forgotten.

"Hey! Are you just leaving us like this?" Frankie asked.

Numbuh Two and Five were so focused on their task that they were both momentarily stunned by the sudden call.

Frankie protected her eyes with an arm when a flashlight was rudely pointed at her face: "And what would you suggest?" Numbuh Two said, scowling.

"Well, something like giving us some of your weapons... you know, we don't want to get hurt too... man, those five kids were sure frightening!" Wilt said, trying to be nice.

"What? I'm not helping an adult, not today, not tomorrow, and not in the future!" Numbuh Two replied angrily.

Frankie had had it of the questionable motif of these kids "I'm sick of your adult-there, adult-here fighting stuff. If you have at least one gear still working in your head, you would see we have nothing to do with those five weird children, and we're all in the same boat!"

"Umph, like that does change anything! Even if we wanted to help you, we wouldn't be able to do so, given the fact we're out of weapons at the moment!"

_POP!_

"Coco!"

"Huh? What happened? What was that noise?" Numbuh Five asked nervously, fearing the worse.

"Oh, nothing..." Frankie answered with a joking tone "...just a reminder: never underestimateimaginary friends."

Numbuh Two and Five didn't at first believe what they saw.

Frankie and Wilt were now respectively keeping in their hands a SCAMPP rifle and a SPICER, identical to the ones used by the Kids Next Door. The spice gun was obviously the one taken by Abigail... but the laser rifle? That didn't make sense.

"Wha... what... what in the world? How's that possible?" Numbuh Two stammered.

"Cocococo! Coco!" Coco replied, glaring at him. While watching her, Numbuh Two spotted what seemed to be the two halves of a big, purple coloured egg.

"Hey, do you mean... Impossible! That's not fair!" Numbuh Two complained.

Frankie scoffed at the chubby boy's protests, while she examined the look of the 2x4 laser rifle she now owned.

Numbuh Five was more calm in her reaction. Slowly she put the radio in normal mode and brought it to her hear.

"Numbuh One, we really need some type of escape plan here..." she said, trying to sound cool and unmoved.

Some seconds passed before an answer arrived: "Abby, you have to resist while you are there! I know that you may not like it, but collaborating with the woman and the two imaginary friends is the best choice. Me and Numbuh Three and Four will try to get there as fast as we can!"

Something roared in the dining room.

"Hurry up!" Numbuh Five nearly shouted while she rotated in the opposite direction. She therefore saw Frankie, Wilt, Coco and Hoagie... of these four, the last one was a bit too pallid for comfort.

"Numbuh Two? Are you okay?" Numbuh Five asked,worriedly.

Hoagie did not answer, but instead limited himself to raise his hand and point at something behind her.

"Don't tell me... the biggest, baddest giant monster you have ever seen is right behind me, right?" the girl said ironically.

Numbuh Two swallowed, sweat forming around his face, and he nodded.

Numbuh Five slowly whirled to face the incoming threat. What she saw nearly made her, Abigail Lincoln,  _scream._

The creature that was standing in front of her was... unknown. It definitely looked like a four-footed animal who was by now standing on his two hind legs, but apart from that there wasn't much that reminded of anything living on the planet. It was entirely black in colour, and the light coming from Numbuh Two's weapon was barely enough to make it appear in the dark. The fangs visible inside the creature's mouth and the claws didn't need much light to be seen, though.

What was really creepy about it, however, were the eyes. Two, white eyes, lacking of pupils. Concentrated utterly and only on her at the moment.

_...darn it._

* * *

Numbuh One gulped at the sound of a screech coming from the radio. Followed right after by a 'FIRE' order shouted by Numbuh Two... after which, the radio went static.

"Numbuh Five? Numbuh Five, report your status! ... Abby? Are you there?"

The questions were left unanswered, and Numbuh One despondently put the mini-radio back in his pocket. He needed some seconds to realize that Numbuh Three and Numbuh Four were right in front of him, visibly waiting for some type of information.

"We... we need to move..." he stammered, but suddenly he shook himself and regained a more controlled look "We need to reach the foyer now. We have to regroup with Numbuh Two and Five, they need our help!"

"Numbuh One, what about the  _friends_ the Delightfuls were talking about?" Numbuh Four asked "What if we encounter them?"

"Yeah, I sure don't want to get to know them!" Numbuh Three agreed.

" _We destroy them!"_ Numbuh One simply answered, deadpan "Hoagie and Abigail are in trouble, and we're not leaving them alone. We have to  _resist_ until the reinforcements arrive. Understood?"

It wasn't common for their leader to use that tone of voice, so Numbuh Four and Three simply nodded. They may had been worried about the hazard, but they both knew that Nigel was right.

They both raised their weapons and assumed a battle stance. Numbuh One took the lead and the three of them were definitely going to run if it wasn't for...

"AHEM!"

The three operatives were stunned, but they spent a moment to remember about their previous main concern.

Mac and Bloo were again dazzled by the flashlights. The latter was going to complain, but the former was faster: "You can't really leave us there, can you?"

"If I have to be honest, I  _can..."_  Numbuh One answered.

"Oh, for God's sake! We both have listened to those freaks' show! What else do you need to believe us?"

"We might have... misjudged you, Numbuh Two-Hundred-One. That still doesn't mean you are now in good terms with the Kids Next Door."

"...so just shut the crud up and leave us do our work, square head!" Wallabeeyelled.

"...but you are right. We need all the help we can have. Numbuh Four, free him and his imaginary friend."

Numbuh Four gaped at his leader, bewildered.

"You can't really be..." he began, but he was stopped in mid-sentence: "Wallabee, just  _do it."_

Numbuh Four continue to stare, motionless, for some seconds, before eventually scowling and slowly moving towards the two prisoners. Thus, he untied them from the ropes that kept their hands blocked.

While Mac was stretching his hands, he was surprised to find Nigel right in front of him. What the operative did afterwards surprised him even more.

Numbuh One drew out his secondary SPICER gun and handed it out.

"You'll need a weapon. But keep in mind that we're  _watching_  you. Don't do anything you'll regret... operative." he announced.

Mac grabbed the gun and examined it, suddenly finding it extremely interesting. "I... thanks. We're really all on the same boat now, you know. I... I shouldn't..."

"Later for the explanations and the excuses, now we have a mission to finish" Numbuh One cut off. "Numbuh Three, give your handgun to the imaginary friend. He seems a bit hard-headed, but he'll be of help."

"Hey, you take that back!" Bloo protested, but he was promptly ignored. He muttered something under his breath while Kuki respected the order and handed out her 'GUMZOOKA' gum-firing gun.

Before Bloo could comment on the fact they had just given him a weapon that shot gum bullets, Mac approached him.

"Bloo, this is going to be tough. Like,  _really tough._  You have to promise me that whatever happens, you'll do  _whatever_  I ask you to do..." he said.

Bloo didn't notice the seriousness of the question: "Yeah, yeah, right, Numbar Two-Thousand-what the heck your codename is..."

Mac sighed. He really wanted to make Bloo aware of the danger hiding in the shadows, but he had already run out of time.

"Come on, let's move!" Numbuh One ordered. He made a step in the shadows, but he suddenly stopped.

"You heard that?"

"Hear what?" Numbuh Three asked, scratching her head.

"Listen."

The four armed kids and the friend remained quiet for some moments... then they heard it. Only mere moments after, they heard it again, and it was nearer than before.

Noises of heavy footsteps approaching. And some additional noises who could have been classified as 'growls'.

"They're coming."

Bloo saw the operatives and Mac form a square like formation in the centre of the hallway. Later, he realized that it was rather pentagon-like, and one of the vertexes was unoccupied.

Mac sighed another time while watching his friend quickly joining them and trying unsuccessfully to turn on the flashlight on his weapon. He hoped that whatever they were going to face, it wasn't going to be really  _dangerous._

Numbuh Four showed a fierce frown on his face. He didn't like the fact that the suspected traitor was by now keeping a weapon in his hands, not at all, and he looked forward to express that dislike _on_  the unfortunate 'friends'the Delightfuls were talking about.

Numbuh One was nervous. He still had in his mind the sound of the screech heard from the radio and Numbuh Two shouting "FIREEEE!". What really make him feel sick was the fact he couldn't tell from the memory if the screech was from Numbuh Five or the so called  _friends._ Neither case was a good one.

Numbuh Three was having a hard time being concentrated. The noises were now much nearer than before, and despite her unquestionable experience with tons of missions before, he wasn't expecting to fight an enemy that she couldn't see, at least not directly. The light she was controlling moved faster than the others as she tried to locate enemies.

"Hope this thing works, I don't look forward to become lunch..." Bloo murmured.

"It's going to work, trust... wait, lunch? Bloo, we're not going to become  _lunch_ , now stay focused and don't distract yourself!" Mac scolded, annoyed by the unwanted comments of his moaning friend.

Bloo grunted as a response and watched the opposite way... just in time to see two, pallid eyes watch him back.

Numbuh Three screamed when the creature leaped right on her. It was the last scene Bloo could remember before he felt something hit him from the back,  _hard._ He began falling out cold, while around him the sounds of fight became farther and farther...


	8. Battles

Eduardo was running, and he did not see where he was going. Even so, he wasn't opening his eyes in the near future, given the gunfire, shouts and sounds of melee fight around him.

Goo didn't mind, anyway. She was literally using poor Eduardo as a war horse, every ten seconds or so putting her hand on his left or right shoulder, showing him where to go. The rest of the time was spent mocking the Ice-Cream men and firing at will with a cone gun she had somehow stolen from one of them in the frenzy.

She was pretty good, with the head shots she had been collecting in the previous five minutes.

The Ice-Cream men had been taken aback by the attack. They weren't expecting such a resistance from the imaginary friends, and the 'army' of Foster's sure exploited the occasion in the best possible way.

Tired by ten minutes of non-stop running, Eduardo came to a sudden halt away from the clash to regain his breath, letting Goo have the time to briefly look at the battlefield.

Cheese was not too far from them. The annoying friend seemed to be quite amused by the clash, screaming at the top of his lungs to show his happiness and thus deafening every Ice-Cream man had the bad idea to attack him.

Suddenly, another Ice-Cream man appeared in front of him. He was wearing a pair of protecting earphones, and he smirked when he noticed the yellow head in front of him.

"I like milk chocolate!" Cheese said, not at all scared by the appearance.

The man responded with a shot of his rifle right on Cheese's face. He watched him, believing he had brain-frozen the enemy for good.

But Cheese's eyes appeared behind the ice-cream covering, which happened to be strawberry flavoured. He licked his face, almost cleaning it all.

"That's not Ice-Cream chocolate!" Cheese shouted angrily, before sputtering the ice-cream on the confused man's face. The adult squeaked in surprise like a little girl and ran away from the friend. Cheese just stared at him for some seconds before resuming his previous occupation like nothing had happened

Goo couldn't help but smile at the sight. Cheese may have been annoying, but he could be of help when he was in the mood. With that thought, the girl watched the opposite side of the battlefield.

There, Jackie Khones was... sitting on his beach chair. The weird part was, there was an Ice-Cream man sitting on another beach chair right at his side.

"You know, you were right. It's a too beautiful day to fight. Too bad the sun's already going down..." the man said, completely relaxed.

"Jackie Khones is always right, my friend..." the one-eyed friend replied "...and let me tell you another thing about him..."

The little friend sat up and pressed a hidden button on the other armchair. What happened afterwards was too quick for the man to react: the beach chair closed itself, trapping the poor adult  _in._

"...Jackie Khones never leaves a battle!" the friend finished "...oh, and never accept presents from strangers!"

After making sure the man was safely trapped in the fake chair, Jackie Khones cleaned his hands and marched towards the battle.

From these scenes, it could seem that the imaginary friends had the upper hand at the moment. But after watching the  _entire_  battle from her perspective, Goo's happy smile faded a little.

Yes, the friends had actually overrun the first men. The problem was, there were more of them behind the first ones, and after them even more. The delinquents were  _a lot,_ many more than Goo had expected.

She also noticed that not all the Ice-Cream men were dressed as actual ice-cream men. Some of them had strange battle suits, armoured with biscuits and using cones as helmets. The smile completely left Goo's face when she saw that these elite troops were using more effective versions of the cone rifles.

Already she could see that some of the friends were retreating. Other ones were lying on the ground, knocked out.

The clash was getting serious, and Goo knew that she had to return here and help the imaginary friends in every possible way.

"Ed, come on, we have a job to do!"

"Do we really have to?" Eduardo asked, timidly opening one eye "I fought enough for today!"

"Ed, do you or don't you want to save our friends in the house?" Goo asked.

Eduardo didn't answer, but he simply nodded.

"Then, let's go! We'll lose all the fun if we stay here!" Goo shouted. She slapped him on the face in a friendly and not mean way, which still had the effect to force Eduardo to run into the pandemonium.

* * *

Mr. Herriman was still lying on the asphalt, staring at the sky. The poor rabbit was trying to ignore the unmistakeable noises of fight coming from Foster's garden, but he had found out it was hard to do so.

"Good heavens..." he began saying to no one in particular "This is by far one of the most horrible days of my life. I cannot even call the police... Miss Frances was right when she insisted in buying me one of those cellphones. How can this get worse? Maybe with asteroids?"

At the word 'asteroids' Mr. Herriman detected something strange in the sky. It seemed like a black dot moving. The friend stood up and tried to focus the object, but he was surprised to discover that the dot had  _multiplied._

And the first one was getting bigger and heading right towards him.

"What the..." Mr. Herriman said, then he realized he was going to be hit and he jumped sidewards, at the very last second avoiding the flying object.

Stunned, Mr. Herriman tried to understand what had almost crushed him... and he was even more surprised to see what seemed at his eyes a giant metal can.

From the above-mentioned can, a door opened, and a group of twenty kids dressed in makeshift armor exited and marched past him.

"Come on! Come on! This way!" one of the kids shouted, as additional vehicles arrived from the air and landed around Mr. Herriman.

The children didn't seem to be preoccupied by the imaginary friend, who was at the moment gaping at the events who were happening out of his control. In less than a minute, an entire platoon of armed kids was in formation in front of the garden, SCAMPPs ready to fire.

Before someone could give the order to attack, however, Mr. Herriman managed to regain control of his mind.

"WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON?!"

The gentleman friend wasn't preoccupied by the dozens of pairs of eyes that watched him. His patience had officially run out, and he wasn't backing up anytime soon.

"I demand that someone gives me a proper explanation to this madness! I will not let you rascals enter Foster's after-..."

" _SHUDDUP!"_

Mr. Herriman felt his fur going up. A female kid walked towards him, and her behaviour wasn't friendly at all.

"The Kids Next Door aren't following the orders of anyone if not themselves! And they're not sure following the orders of a bunny who acts as an adult!" the girl shouted.

"Your manners are as low as the unkindness of your affirmation, young girl" Mr. Herriman said "I won't stop until I know what exactly is happen-..."

Mr. Herriman stopped himself in mid-track when a MUSKET gun appeared right in front of his nose.

"...thinking about it, I'll just wait there!" he quickly corrected himself.

"Numbuh Eighty-Six!"

The girl in front of him quickly lowered her weapon, and Mr. Herriman mentally thanked the other kid that had stopped the berserker. A kid that was dressed in a samurai-like outfit.

"You're not threatening an imaginary friend! Not if we're here to help them!" the blonde aired girl reprimaned.

"But sir!" Numbuh Eighty-Six protested "He tried to stop us!"

"We both know he wouldn't be able to... wait a second..."

Mr. Herriman found himself sweating when the girl who had come studied him with an inquisitive look. Someway he knew that this child was the commander of this group of kids… that was, if it was normal to see a group of military-dressed kids appear out of nowhere.

"Are you Mr. Herriman?" the girl simply asked.

"Uhm... Yes?" Mr. Herriman answered, not expecting her to know of his name.

"Mmm... this might be useful" the girl continued with a neutral tone "Mr. Herriman, we're sorry for the nature of our metting, but there's no time for bigger explanations. We're here to help you, we just need to know if you can tell us the reason of the battle in the garden."

Mr. Herriman frowned: "I was going to ask you the same question, young lady. First I get hit by someone in the head, then I discover that all the friends have left the house for a non-existent fire, third we're threatened by thugs looking like drivers of ice-cream vans, fourth the friends attack the delinquents without my approval, and now we get invaded by armed rascals!"

"So, you're not affiliated with the Ice-Cream men?"

"Of course not!"

The girl seemed to ponder over Mr. Herriman words before making a long breath. "Numbuh One will have to give a good explanation…"

"Huh? Who is Number One? And why are you calling yourselves with such codenames?" Mr. Herriman asked.

"As I said before, we have no time for this. For now, be aware of the fact that the Kids Next Door are here to help the imaginary friends and get rid of the Ice-Cream men. When the battle will end, look for me, codename Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two."

With that, Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two turned away and began firing orders here and there, Numbuh Eighty-Six right behind her making sure those orders were respected.

Mr. Herriman stared at the two girls going away, then he watched his surroundings. Various SCAMPERs and other vehicles were now parked around him, and groups of kids moved between them with various tasks.

At this sight, the rabbit thought he had only one thing to do. He let himself fall to the ground for the second time.

_I definitely would have preferred the asteroids._

* * *

Numbuh Five was beginning to get worried. She was usually calm and secure of herself, but now that a showcase of white fangs was five centimetres away from her face, that wasn't totally true.

The girls struggled to keep the Dark Hound at a distance, but the beast was right over her and was trying to reach her face with both his strength and weight. In the end, the hounds weren't actually very big: they were, for example, on their four legs as tall as the operatives. As Abigail was experimenting right now, that didn't mean they weren't dangerous.

Numbuh Five felt her arms going sore as the seconds passed. She sure would have lost the fight with the 'friend' if it wasn't for an unknown savior who shot a round to the beast, knocking it away.

A hand appeared in front of her face. She grabbed it right away, gladly accepting the help: "Thanks Hoa…" she began, but she realized the hand was too big to be a human one.

"You're welcome, little girl" Wilt replied, smiling at her. He handed her the SPICER she had previously lost while fighting with the hound.

Suddenly, Abigail felt awkward. Did this friend really help her that lightly and without a sign of anger, with the fact she had tried to crush him one the chandeliers?

Well, that was a thought for another moment. Shooing the doubts away, Numbuh Five aimed the SPICER with the torch turned on to the form of the hound she was previously fighting with. The beast seemed to be out for good.

"All right, that one is down for now" she stated "…ahem… do you know where are the others?"

"I'm sorry, you were the first one I found" Wilt replied with a sad face. He still kept in his hands a spice gun, a weapon that would have turned out to be useful.

Before Numbuh Five could answer, she heard something move behind her, and when he turned, he had barely a second to avoid the charge of a dark hound.

The new arrival roared in anger as he changed his direction and headed for her. The operative began shooting the imaginary friend with the SPICER, but the hound easily dodged the rounds. When it reached her, the beast drew out his claws and tried to slash her.

Numbuh Five retreated to the attacks. She may have had months of experience of melee combat, but the creature was definitely  _faster_ than an adult _,_  and it was difficult for her to gain some seconds to use the SPICER against the attacker, which didn't let her have even a second of rest. Before one of them could prevail on the other, however, Wilt decided the girl needed his help and he carefully shot a round of the 2x4 weapon to the couple.

The beast was taken aback by the shot, which hit it dead-center. Knocked away, it flied for some meters before eventually landing to the ground, out cold.

"You could have been a bit faster, you know!" Numbuh Five accused.

"Sorry! It was just…" Wilt began, but Abigail realized there was a form moving behind the tall imaginary friend.

"Watch out!"

Another dark hound attacked from the shadows, leaping towards Wilt. It was too fast, and Abigail was almost sure he couldn't evade this one. But Wilt had not stopped impressing her: the imaginary friend curved his body like it was made of rubber, and the hound bit nothing but air. While it was over him, Wilt used the SPICER another time, and the beast was hit right on the chest.

Wilt stood up easily and he stretched his back as the beast fell to his side.

Numbuh Five was staring at the imaginary friend open-mouthed. What she had just seen was simply… amazing.

"I… I must say you acted well, with those beasts…" Numbuh Five said, scratching the back of her head. She was surprised to discover her cap was gone, so she instantly began looking for it in the surroundings.

"No problem. We have a cage outside that is full of friends like these ones, so it's not much of a surprise" Wilt said.

"WHAT?!" Numbuh Five nearly shouted.

"Well, we do have to put them somewhere, and they sure can't stay here! By the way, they don't mind as long as give them the food they need…"

Numbuh Five decided to let the topic slide. Before she could make a decision, however, the two of them heard a call coming from the kitchen.

"COCOOOO!"

"Coco! Hang on, I'm coming!" Wilt yelled as he zapped towards the direction of the noise, passing right over Numbuh Five with his long steps.

"Hey! Wait for me!" the operative protested as she began running to follow him after catching her red cap.

When the two of them entered the room, they couldn't at first believe what they were seeing.

Coco was indeed squawking, but it was more of the angry type instead of the frightful one. That wasn't the case for the dark hound she was pursuing.

The monster was so much scared that he didn't even notice the two new arrivals. It was therefore easy to deal with him: Coco, signalling at her friend, directed the creature towards Wilt and Abigail, and when it passed in front of them, the tall friend put his leg right in the course. Too fast to jump, the dark hound tripped over it and rolled in the room until he crashed into one of the drawers of the kitchen. Unfortunately, it was the one full of cutlery.

The creature screamed before it was overwhelmed by a storm of spoons, forks and, more importantly,  _knives._  Numbuh Five and the two imaginary friends instinctively looked away.

"It wasn't supposed to do that! I swear!" Wilt apologized.

Numbuh Five was the first one to look at the corpse of the hound. The scene was different from what she expected: not any sign of violence, but instead, the creature's body was beginning to _dissolve._

In fact, after only a minute, it had disappeared, leaving only a little mountain of cutlery stained with a black liquid.

"Well, seems like they're not totally invincible" Numbuh Five said "Do they all do that?"

"No, sorry. This is the first time ever I see something like this happen." Wilt informed, looking at the knives dumbfounded.

"You don't need to put 'sorry' in every sentence. Man, didn't they already tell you that?" Numbuh Five asked.

"Coco! Coco cococococo. Cocoo…" Coco replied as she rolled her eyes.

"Hey, I tried!" Wilt said, slightly glaring at her.

While Numbuh Five had not understood a single word from Coco, she had not the chance to ask for a translation. Suddenly, they heard a scream, this time coming from the near dining room.

"Numbuh Two!" Numbuh Five said as she zapped away to the rescue of her teammate. It was now Wilt's and Coco's turn to go after her.

Numbuh Two and Frankie Foster were running in the dining room, around what remained of the long table. Three dark hounds were right behind them, trying to slash their backs with their claws.

When the rest of the group arrived, Wilt and Abigail at first aimed their spice guns at the beasts, but Coco stopped them: "Coco! Cococococo!"

"What did she say?" Numbuh Five asked.

"She said: 'Wait and watch, I have an idea…' " Wilt translated, shrugging.

The bird went forward and with a quick "COCO!" she laid another one of her useful eggs. She went away before the egg opened itself, letting out something that looked like a green, thick liquid.

Frankie and Numbuh Two arrived some seconds later, and they jumped over the trap thanks to the signal of their allies. The hounds weren't that lucky, and they were bewildered to find themselves suddenly blocked in the slimy liquid.

One of them directed his white, annoyed eyes at the five watchers, but the anger was soon replaced with fright.

"Goodbye, suckers" Numbuh Five said before her and Wilt fired their weapons at the three unfortunate monsters. They released the triggers after 10 seconds, just to be sure the three beasts were out cold.

"Hah! Seems like…" Hoagie began, but Numbuh Five stopped him with a slap to his face.

"Hey, I didn't even say it!" he complained.

"But you thought it…" Numbuh Five nonchalantly replied, before turning her attention to the new allies.

"Are you all right, guys?" she asked.

"Yeah, yeah, only some scratches. Those stupid 'dogs' aren't really smart…" Frankie said as she examined a small injury on her left arm.

"Good, because we don't know if we're going to encounter more of them. The Delightful Children may have something more under their sleeves."

"Those five kids really crept me out before. Have you already had to do with them before?" Wilt said.

"You can't even begin to realize how much…" Numbuh Two answered.

"All right, monsters or not, we can't just wait there without doing anything. Numbuh Two, do you still have some weapons with you?"

"I'm afraid not, Numbuh Five" the boy informed "Our rifles were destroyed by those things from before."

"You mean you don't have anything with you?" Abigail asked.

"Well… yes…" Hoagie answered, but he made the error to use a not convinced tone.

"He's lying" Frankie affirmed.

"Yep, he is" Wilt agreed.

"Coco…" Coco finished.

Before Hoagie could launch an angry glare at the three inhabitants of the house, Numbuh Five put herself between the four of them, hand on her hips.

The boy hated when she did that, because he knew that when she did that, he had been caught.

"Numbuh Two, what are you hiding?"

"Nothing…"

" _Hoagie,_ we don't have time for this…"

"Oh, all right, I give up!" Numbuh Two surrendered. He kneeled down and removed something that was being hidden under his pants near his boots.

"What? Those? You aren't supposed to keep them, weren't them forbidden or something some time ago?" Numbuh Five quickly said.

"Yes, but seriously, they are pure genius creation! How could we just destroy them all if…"

"Numbuh Two!" Numbuh Five said firmly, snatching the two objects from her teammate's hands "This is not something you should do! And bringing them along! What were you thinking?"

Numbuh Two decided it was better for him to keep silent.

Abigail just sighed as she put the two unidentified objects in her backpack. "All right, we'll talk about it later. For now we need to look for Numbuh One, Three and Four. After regrouping with them, it should be easy to find an exit."

"Sounds good" Numbuh Two acknowledged.

"And for you three… I'd say you should go with us. We may have been enemies in in the previous hours, but we all know that now we have a common goal…"

"Surviving?" Wilt suggested.

"…I wouldn't say it that way, but you got the point" Numbuh Five said.

"We don't have a real choice… all right, we'll come with you. You'll need someone who guides you through the house, anyway" Frankie said, gesturing to the walls around them.

Numbuh Five nodded. Done their preparations, the group moved towards the stairs of the foyer. Abigail and Wilt took the lead, given the fact they were the only ones with functioning weapons, and they began their ascend to the upper floors of the mansion.

* * *

_Bloo…_

_Bloo…_

_Bloo!_

"Bloo! Can you hear me? Wake up, buddy!"

"Ow… My head…" Bloo lamented as he tried to focus the world around him "…what happened?"

Mac was sitting at Bloo's side with a concerned look: "One of these wolf-like 'friends' had leapt over us and it hit you in the process. You've remained out for basically the entire battle."

"Oh, brother, if I keep this rhythm I'm surely going to lose all my neurons… Did we win?" the friend asked while he looked the other way. He nearly went white when he saw a form right at his other side.

"Argh! Get it away!" he screamed, a sudden burst of energy making him stand up and escape from the supposed threat.

"That one is done with, Bloo…" Mac informed, a light smile on his face at the reaction of the imaginary friend. Bloo soon realized that the creature was indeed beaten. Badly. Thanks to the flashlight of the SPICER Mac still wielded, the blue-coloured friend was able to see that the dark hound had indeed seen better days.

"…do you mean…" Bloo began saying, a crazy idea in his mind "… _you_  did  _this_ to it?"

"Well, duh! It has tried to slash my neck!" Mac responded, raising an eyebrow.

"No, no, no! I don't mean why you did that. I mean  _how!"_

"Oh…"

"Oh? You've just beaten up this… thing, alone, and all you can say is 'oh'?"

"So? Would it have been better if I had let him have me and you as his… lunch?"

Bloo opened his mouth, then he closed it and put one of his fingerless hands on his face. "What I'm trying to say is… man, why didn't you do this before when we'd have needed it?"

"I already told you, Bloo, I couldn't. By the way, we aren't finished here yet."

"Right. We need to escape as fast as…"

"No. We need to find the three kids that were with us before. I lost them during the fight, and we better be together if anyone of those creatures return."

"…huh?" Bloo was shocked. Was Mac saying to go save the ones who had just tied them up moments before? Moments from his point of view, but that was unimportant.

"I'm not saying they are our new best friends, Bloo! This is an extreme situation, we have to rely on each other!"

"…riiight…" Bloo slowly acknowledged, not completely convinced but still a bit too much scared by the creature's body near them to argue.

Mac sighed, but before he could tell his imaginary friend what to do, the two of them heard a loud noise far in the hallway.

"What was that?" Bloo asked, his voice revealing a hint of fright.

"Something heavy falling. Come on, let's get there and see what happened."

"Aren't we supposed to escape from it?"

Mac did not answer, and instead he began walking forward. Even though he was annoyed by the lack of attention of the kid, Bloo followed him, making sure to be right behind him.

The two of them walked through the hall until Mac stopped where he believed the noise had come from. The area was like other ones in the house: there were still no windows, but with the flashlight the boy was able to pinpoint three bedrooms.

From one of them, another noise was heard, of foots moving.

"Mac, do we really have to? I'm not scared, I just… This is a bad idea…" Bloo complained while Mac persisted in ignoring him and he approached the door, the spice gun ready.

"At my three…" Mac whispered "…we crush the door and attack."

Bloo did not agree one bit, but he had not been asked for an answer for a reason.

_3…_

_2…_

_1…_

"YAAAH!"

Mac and Bloo kicked the door together, successfully slamming it open, and burst into the room. What they found there was even more surprising of a bloodthirsty dark hound.

It was an annoyed Australian KND operative.

"What the crud are you two doing? You just blew my cover!" Numbuh Four shouted as he jumped over a rolled bed, without a doubt the object that had caused the first sound.

"Why, hello to you too…" Bloo sarcastically replied.

"We heard you, but we weren't sure what was hiding there, so…" Mac explained.

"Umph, Good job. Really good…" Numbuh Four complimented, the tone definitely ironic. His mustard gun was gone, and in its place the operative was keeping in his right hand a SPLANKER. The wooden plank showed signs of a previous fight.

"I sincerely don't care about what you think…" Mac fired back "…right now we need to find your two teammates."

"And what time did I say I took orders from you?"

"Do you have a better idea?"

"I…" Numbuh Four stopped himself. The answer was  _'no'_ but he'd have hugged a rainbow monkey for an hour rather than admitting defeat to the square-head. Nevertheless, Mac smirked: "See? Come on, we have no time to argue."

"Wait. Haven't you seen Numbuh One and Three out there?" Numbuh Four asked suddenly, turning his behaviour to a completely different one.

"No. You were the first one we found…"

Mac watched Numbuh Four as he kicked the bed, making it roll to the other side another time. It looked like this Kids Next Door operative was a little nervous about the situation of his teammates. However, Mac didn't have the chance to wonder about it more.

From outside the room, the three of them heard something like a  _roar._  Followed by other noises.

Before Mac could actually say something about it, the KND operative was already running outside. Surprised, he had to abruptly push Bloo out of the door and make him follow the lead of Wallabee.

When the two of them reached him, the scene that was in front of them was quite a special one.

Numbuh One was fighting  _alone_ with a dark hound in one of the hallways nearer to the outer wall of the mansion. All the windows had been obscured like the ones in the ground floor, and the only light that let Numbuh One see his opponent was the one coming from the light of Mac's SPICER and the one he had lost and was on the floor out of his range. The beast tried various times to slash him with his claws, but Sector V's leader was at least as fast as it, and he didn't seem to be worried. Growling in frustration, the hound charged forward, his fangs ready to close on Numbuh One's neck.

Nigel did not dodge the attack, but he instead prepared a punch that kicked the creature right on the nose. The hit was enough strong to stun the beast, that missed Nigel's neck and fall to his side. Numbuh One didn't let it recover as he kicked it multiple times. Then, he did something that left Mac and Bloo speechless: he bumped the back of his boots one with the other, activating a trigger, and his right boot ignited the rockets under it. Numbuh One used it to throw a final, powerful kick to the dazed creature.

The strategy worked. It worked so well that the dark hound was thrown away, and he landed right on one of the obscured windows. The creature crashed through it, screeching in the process, and after a long period of darkness the sun made his return in the house. Dazzling the four kids meanwhile.

Still, they spent only seconds to adjust to the new grade of illumination as Mac and Bloo rushed to the now opened window and got a peek of the garden.

Wallabee didn't join them at first as he approached his leader "You okay, Numbuh One?"

"I'm good, Numbuh Four, just a little scratch on the arm but nothing serious. These hounds aren't too dangerous if we deal with them one by one…"

"Sorry to interrupt, but you may want to see what is going on outside?" Mac called.

"Whatever it is, it'll have to wai-… Hey!"

Numbuh One was already on the window. "He's right, Wallabee. Come here."

"I dunno what you three are seeing, but I highly doubt that… whoa!"

The four of them stared at a huge battle. They were in the front side of the house, so they had a good view of the entire clash.

"Oh… my… god…" Mac stammered.

"What? That's Eduardo! What is he doing? Ed! We're here! Can you hear me?" Bloo shouted, but no one answered due to the high volume of the fight noises.

"The reinforcements! Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two has arrived!" Numbuh One exclaimed, clapping his hands.

"They are fighting Ice-Cream men  _and_ Imaginary friends! Man, we gotta go there and help them!" Wallabee affirmed.

"No, Wallabee. I think the Kids Next Door are fighting  _along_ with the imaginary friends against the Ice-Cream men. We may have missed something important, but I think that the Delightful Children's lackeys were trying to close and block all the windows to trap us in. Then the moonbase platoon arrived to stop them… Though I wonder why the imaginary friends are fighting, too."

"What, did you think we weren't good enough?" Bloo accused, crossing his arms.

"Not in the slightest. Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two wouldn't have let you get hurt or in harm, I know her enough to say that."

"What are we waiting for, then? Let's go!" Wallabee shouted, gesturing at the clash.

"Numbuh Four, more than a half of our team is still inside, as well as more inhabitants of this house. Remember?"

"Oh… crud" Numbuh Four simply said as he actually remembered the problems at hand.

"We will re-join with the Kids Next Door Wallabee, but that after we find the others. I hope Numbuh Two and Five are all right… but what about Numbuh Three?"

"Numbuh Three? Ehrm… Oh, darn it, you didn't see her too?"

"Negative, Numbuh Four. I guess you two didn't see her too…"

Mac shook his head gravely "You guessed right."

"Then, let's not waste more time…" he said as he picked up his SPICER gun from the ground. Before he could give more orders, however, he saw something in the corner of his eye. He whirled his head to investigate, and indeed he saw something in the dark.

A group of three hounds stared at them. Two of them growled menacingly as they tried to get near them, but as soon as they touched the light, they screeched in pain and ran away.

_Well, here's another reason for why they had the entire house closed up…_ Mac thought while he kept his SPICER ready to shoot the third dark hound. It was in that moment that the four of them noticed something.

The dark hound had his mouth opened, and between his fangs, he kept the form of a body. Wallabee needed three nanoseconds to react to the glimpse of a green sweater worn by the form.

" _NUMBUH THREEE!"_

Numbuh One wasn't able to stop his teammate. Numbuh Four charged at the hound shaking his SPLANKER in the air threateningly. The hound, however, didn't face him, but he instead turned on his heels and escaped.

Wallabee went after him without a second thought, so after only six seconds Mac, Bloo and Nigel were left alone in the illuminated area.

"That boy has some problems…" Bloo said with a unimpressed face.

"Maybe you're right…" Numbuh One replied "…but that doesn't change the fact he's just ran away alone in the shadows. Numbuh Two-Hundred-One, see if you and your imaginary friend can keep my pace."

With that, Nigel began running like a lighting bolt, and he soon disappeared in the dark too.

"Another pursuit! Great…" Bloo said with fake joy, but before he could state his will to not follow them, Mac was already running.

"Hey! Where are you going, Mac? There's like our exit right there!" Bloo called as he pointed at the opened window.

Mac stopped himself only for a second "See yourself if you can escape through it, Bloo!".

"If you say so…" the blue blob muttered while he went to the window and watched down. Immediately he felt vertigo running through his spine and he backed away.

"Wait for me!" Bloo shouted as he changed his idea and zapped away after his creator.


	9. Of Friends and Operatives

Goo gritted her teeth as the butt of an ice-cream rifle missed her head for mere centimetres. The girl moved back, trying to keep at distance the enemy she was fighting, but this one seemed to be a bit more difficult to deal with than the others.

The adult snickered before attacking the girl again, trying to grab her arms and therefore block her, but Goo was fast and he didn't catch anything but air. Thus, the girl responded with a kick directly in the rear end. Action that successfully made the ice-cream man get angry.

"You, stupid little brat! Let me get my hands on you…!" the adult threatened as he tried to capture Goo more and more times. The black girl resisted to the attempts at first, but after some seconds she suddenly found one of her arms impossible to move.

"Gotcha!" the man exulted in victory while he grinned at Goo. A moment after, his smile faded as a laser beam hit him in the face.

Stunned, the man could only gape when his now half-burnt face stared at the form of a kid towering over him. And he wasn't Goo.

"I wouldn't move if I were you, adult" the kid advised as he kept his SCAMPP rifle pointed at the ice-cream man's head. He made a thumbs-up signal for Goo, who nodded and smiled in response.

He had no idea where this group of kids had come from or why they were fighting with them, but in her opinion they sure were one of the most awesome thing she had ever seen in her life.

And that was only an half of it: their arrival had definitely changed the outcome of the battle. Goo gave a curios look at her surroundings. Not even one ice-cream man was standing, and if there was one, he was being brought away handcuffed. The Kids Next Door were either capturing the last escapers or helping the imaginary friends who had taken the brunt of the battle.

Then, she noticed Eduardo, standing motionless twenty meters away from her, still keeping his eyes closed.

"ED!" the girl called happily as she walked towards him "What are you doing?"

"…scary… I don't want to see…" Eduardo babbled.

"Oh, C'mon, Ed, we have finished here! We won!"

Eduardo timidly opened one eye: "…did we?"

"Of course! See yourself!"

Eduardo opened the second eye and took a peek of the area around him. He dared to uncover his eyes only when he was sure there was no one aiming a firearm at him.

"I'm sure they're regretting trying to keep you out of your home now!" Goo commented.

"…does this mean we can leave now?" Eduardo whispered. The battle may have finished, but he wasn't totally sure to be safe with all these armed kids moving around him.

"Of course no! What about our friends inside? We have to get there and find them!"

"Isn't there another less dangerous way to help them?"

"Oh, Ed, you are too funny with your jokes sometimes!" Goo laughed, completely failing to acknowledge Eduardo was serious. She friendly slapped him on the shoulder for the nth time, therefore making the imaginary friend walk reluctantly forward. The two of them moved between the Kids Next Door and the imaginary friends, heading for the main entrance.

There, Goo and Eduardo noticed that a group of the kids that had come to aid them were animatedly discussing on something.

Eduardo would have considered to wait for them to finish their discussion, but Goo wasn't of the same idea.

"HEY GUYS!" she simply called with her common gleeful expression.

She was greeted by a series of glares coming from the Kids Next Door operatives. "Wow, what's up with you? We're not enemies, don't you see?" she asked with a confused tone.

One of the Kids Next Door left the group and moved to meet them. Unfortunately for Goo and Eduardo, it was one of the most irritable ones.

"This is not your business, civilian!" Numbuh Eighty-Six said, or to be precise she nearly shouted "So turn around and get off!"

"Hey, there's no need to be that angry!" Goo replied "Besides, you can't really make Eduardo leave his own house! Well, you also can't with me, as I was banned from Foster's only a while ago, and now I visit this place like at least once a week, and there's also the fact that our friends are trapped inside, and… hey, you head is boiling! You really need some…"

" _SHUDDUP!"_

Goo raised an eyebrow: this girl really needed something to calm her down. Before Numbuh Eighty-Six could continue her rant, however, the group of Kids Next Door joined them, including none other than the Supreme Leader in person.

"Numbuh Eighty-Six, let me deal with them, all right?" Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two said. Fanny only grunted, but she anyway stopped talking.

"Now, excuse the manners of Numbuh Eighty-Six, but she is right. The Kids Next Door are taking care of your house from now. We appreciated your help with the Ice-Cream Men, but some of you got hurt and I don't want to make it happen again. As soon as the house is completely safe, we'll let you return inside" Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two explained.

"But what about our friends inside? Frankie, Wilt, Coco, Bloo, Mac! You can't really ask us to just wait here while you do anything!"

Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two didn't expect this information: "What? Are you totally sure?"

"Yes! We have tried to find them among the others here, but they have disappeared!" Goo answered.

"I saw Senõr Mac and Senõr Bloo inside, Senõra" Eduardo added "If they had really left Foster's, we would have seen them!"

"This is not good… I hope Sector V will be able to protect them, we don't know what the Delightful Children are planning to do inside" Rachel thought out loud.

"Delightful Children? Who are them? They sound like some interesting guys!" Goo asked curiously

"…and scary!" Eduardo said before covering his eyes again.

"I'm afraid we'll have to explain it later. Now… The names you have mentioned. Could you please tell us who are them exactly?" Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two inquired.

"Mmmh… Wilt, Coco and Bloo are imaginary friends like my buddy here…" Goo said as she put her hand on Eduardo's shoulder "While Frankie is a young woman and Mac is a boy, I'd say a bit younger than most of you."

"Mac? So he is inside too, isn't him?"

"Yep, why you ask? Do you know each other?"

"No, no. At least, not yet…" Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two said absently as she thought over what to do.

She suddenly turned to face the other Kids Next Door that were awaiting for her orders. "Kids Next Door, we have to burst into the house as soon as possible. We know that along with Sector V there are more imaginary friends inside, as well as an adult and a kid. We have seen enough to think that the adult is not an enemy, but beware of the kid and if you make eye contact, capture at all costs: he's considered a traitor of the Kids Next Door and should be dealt with properly!"

" _Traitor?"_ Goo and Eduardo said at the same time. "Wait, wait, wait! What do you mean with traitor?" the former added.

"I'm sorry, but we have a too much important job to do here. We'll give you proper explanations when this operation ends. Thanks for your help, but we'll take the lead from this mo-…"

" _NOT SO FAST!"_

Goo, Eduardo and Rachel were surprised to see an old rabbit hop towards them angrily.

"That's it! I have had it for today!" Mr. Herriman said "I have let things happen in front of me out of my control for hours, but now this may change! I'll take whatever you rascals are planning and stop it before you make any more dama-…"

"Sir, the 2x4 engineers are arriving to plant the explosives on the front door. What about… YOU!? What the heck are you doing here?" Numbuh Eighty-Six yelled, glaring at the annoyed imaginary friend.

"Explosives!?" Mr. Herriman said, astounded "Oh, no, you're not using any explosives under my command!"

"Who's the nut that said I'm under your command?"

"Good manners say you must follow orders made by good gentlemen older than you, especially if you're invading their own houses!"

"Good manners can go flush themselves by the Toiletnator!"

"What the? You boorish, rude little girl, you'll soon regret your lack of respect for…!"

"Excuse me…?" a third voice interjected.

The operative that had tried to ask for was soon greeted by a flood of glares and curios looks.

"Ahem… I'm sorry, Ma'am" he awkwardly continued, speaking directly with Rachel "but I think you should know about what we've just found…"

"What is it, Numbuh Twenty-Five?" Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two asked.

"Well, hard to describe… You'll have to see it with your own eyes."

* * *

"...You were right" Goo said to the KND operative that had come to summon them, as they all stared in disbelief at the spectacle in front of them.

Three Kids Next Door operatives had their laser rifles ready to shoot at a black  _form_  that was contorting itself like it wanted to catch an invisible enemy. A black puddle of an unknown liquid was beginning to stream out of the supposed creature, and the kids that were keeping it under control knew better to touch it.

"Told you. This beast fell from the house during the battle according to some of our operatives, and it had been moaning and screeching in pain until now" The operative informed.

"Do you have some idea what this…  _thing,_ is?" Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two asked to the girl at her side, completely oblivious to the reasons that brought to the appearance of the dark hound.

Goo didn't know much more than her: "I dunno. I have seen quite some interesting friends out there, but even if this is an imaginary friend… It's the first time I see one of its kind."

"I'm afraid I'll have to agree with Miss Goo…" Mr. Herriman said while he studied the creature with wide eyes.

"It's scary! Keep it out!" Eduardo cried as he tried to hide behind the girl with fancy clothes. "I don't think it's going to hurt you, Ed. Especially when it surely has seen better days."

"The Delightful Children… They must have something to do with these creatures…" Numbuh Eighty-Six suggested. She kept her personal MUSKET gun in her hand at the moment, not feeling completely safe with the dark hound around, even if it wasn't a real danger at the moment.

"Then we must enter the mansion as soon as possible! We don't know if there are more of these monsters inside or what else the Delightfuls have planned! Sector V and the remaining imaginary friends need us!"

"Yessir! As I was saying before, the engineers are awaiting your orders for…"

Mr. Herriman didn't even have the chance to stop the girl in mid-talking. Her speech was in fact interrupted by a high-pitched screech coming from the creature.

"Keep out!" Numbuh Eighty-Six shouted as all the Kids Next Door, Goo, Eduardo and Mr. Herriman put themselves at a safe distance from the beast. It was in that moment that they realized the change that had occurred.

Until that moment, the area had been under the shadow of a lone cloud that had covered the sun. Now that the cloud was gone the sun, even in its weaker version of the approaching evening, had illuminated the area where the beast was located.

The creature emitted another screech that hurt the ears of the near operatives and imaginary friends before eventually completely liquefy under their incredulous eyes. Seven seconds after, all that remained was a larger version of the black puddle.

"Uhm… They don't like light that much, do they?" Goo stated.

"Indeed. I'd say that explains the blockage over the windows that the ice-cream thugs had been preparing previously" Mr. Herriman added.

"They've been planning it from the beginning! Good lord, this was a well-set trap and I sent an entire team there!" Numbuh Three-Sixty said to no one in particular.

The Supreme Leader made a long breath to calm herself down. She knew there was no time to sulk over her previous choices: maybe she should have realized what was going to happen, maybe not. For now, they had a squad to aid.

She eventually raised her head to face the few operatives around her "All right, Kids Next Door, let's get the job done as soon as possible and make the Delightful Children regret messing with us!"

Some cheers were heard and every KND kid in the immediate surroundings got into action.

"Wait a second! You're not going anywhere until…" Mr. Herriman began, but Numbuh Eighty-Six another time made clear that he did not have word in merit by putting the barrel of her mustard gun on the rabbit's nose.

When she was satisfied of the fright visible on Mr. Herriman's face, the girl let him go and returned to her current tasks.

"Good heavens… They're going to blow up the front door… It'll take forever and who knows how much resources to repair…" Mr. Herriman complained as he began getting desperate.

"Oh, come on! They're trying to save our own friends, you know!" Goo reprimanded.

"I'm well aware of that, Miss Goo, but I'm sure there is another,  _less expensive_  way to enter the house!" Mr. Herriman answered back.

"Mmmh… Yes, you're right! Come on, Ed, I have an idea!" Goo suddenly lightened up.

"Huh? Senõra Goo, what are you thinking of?" Eduardo tried to ask, but Goo just pushed him in response, forcing him to move towards the main door. At first confused, Mr. Herriman decided it was better to follow the couple and make sure they didn't make something stupid.

The 2x4 engineers of the Kids Next Door moonbase were already planting loads of soda explosives near the main entrance of the mansion. The door was hidden under a large and thick plate of steel, a new addition courtesy of the ice-cream men. The officers were even discussing about doubling the quantity of the charge. Numbuh Eighty-Six and Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two weren't controlling them at the moment, and that gave Goo the chance she needed.

"All right Ed, I'll need your abilities to go on with my plan. If what I'm thinking of works, we'll also be able to enter much quicker than waiting for these kids to do their business!" Goo explained.

"That's really good, but… what is your plan?" Eduardo inquired. Deep within he felt that something bad was going to happen, at least for  _him._

"Well.. My plan… It will…" Goo bought some time for her, then she sprang in action.

"ED, WATCH OUT! BEHIND YOU, A MONSTER!" the girl screamed.

Eduardo felt his heart stop for a second. Faster than light, he whirled to face the monster.

"What the…" Mr. Herriman could only say as Eduardo stared at him. But Goo had not finished yet, and she lightly patted Eduardo on his back.

" _AAAAAAHHHHHHH!"_

Completely out of control, Eduardo raced in the first direction possible: opposite of the one where the supposed monster had tried to eat him. And Goo had not chosen casually which part of the poor friend's body to touch.

The engineers had barely the seconds to jump away before Eduardo, too scared by the sudden surprise to care, went right into the steel cover and hit it full force with the head.

"Sorry Ed, but we're in an extreme situation!" Goo apologized right away.

"I understand… No hard feelings, Senõra Goo…" Eduardo managed to say before eventually collapsing to the ground with a new problem: a really bad headache.

The steel protection now showed a quite big dent on the front. At first, however, the hit didn't seem to have had any other effect, showing that the material had withstood quite well the shock. Mr. Herriman, Goo and the various operatives watched for some seconds the metal… afterwards, the door, the steel and all collapsed inwards, finally creating the exit they needed.

Thus, the Supreme Leader and the Leader of the Decommissioning Squad finally arrived to investigate about the commotion, right when Mr. Herriman was beginning a long scolding speech directed at the black skinned girl.

"What is going on here? Why aren't we… oh, what in the…?" Numbuh Eighty-Six stammered as she realized the presence of the now opened door.

"Who did it?" Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two asked, another time taken aback. Eduardo raised one of his paws in response, still not opening his eyes or trying to sit up.

"…ahem…thanks, I think" Rachel said with a puzzled look, but only for a second before returning to her commander mode "Kids Next Door, let's not waste more time then!"

Ten seconds later, a first group of ten armed operatives entered the still messy hall, Numbuh Eighty-Six and Three-Sixty-Two leading them. The various soldiers controlled the entrances, the stairs and the rooms near, but it seemed no one was in the ground floor of the mansion.

"The first floor is clear, Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two" an operative reported.

"Understood. Numbuh Eighty-Six, I think that the Delightfuls have someway made the lights blackout in addition to the work of the Ice-Cream men. I want you to take some operatives and the engineers as well as Mr. Herriman with you. The imaginary friend should know where the electric control panels of the house are, and from there you have to try to restore the lights. While you prepare the group, tell the rest of the Kids Next Door to begin the removal of the coverage on the windows. The more light we'll have, the better it will in the case we run into another of those beasts" Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two ordered.

Numbuh Eighty-Six nodded and immediately took off to the exit.

"You ten! With me! We'll navigate the house and look for Sector V, the traitor operative and the remaining imaginary friends!" the blonde girl shouted. The operatives reacted instantly and in no time they were in perfect formation behind her.

Rachel did not waste more time in drawing out an elite SPICER from her pocket and signalling the squad to follow her. In any case, they were stopped.

"Hey, where are you going?"

Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two sighed before turning to the now really annoying girl, and her easily scared companion.

"We're going in to look for our allies as well as your friends. You must stay out of this, you've helped us and we thank you for it, but…"

"No buts! We're going with you! Right, Ed?" Goo interjected, winking at the monstrous imaginary friend. Eduardo did not answer, but he still forced himself to nod.

"Listen, I mean no offense, but we're Kids Next Door, trained to face situations like this, and out there there's a group of five villains capable of anything. And-…"

"And you don't know a single thing about Foster's. C'mon, me and Eduardo can help you not getting lost there! Besides, you're not convincing us to just wait here while the others are in trouble!"

Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two watched Goo directly in the eyes for some long seconds before eventually giving in: "…All right, you can come, but do not get yourself hurt while we're there. We won't be able to protect you and him 24/7".

"That's ok for me!" Goo quickly agreed, while Eduardo wasn't completely convinced, with the fact of the blonde's last sentence and all. The imaginary friend, in any case, had already given up with his attempts to stop Goo's hyperactivity. There was a question, however that was bugging him.

"Senõra… Can I, uhm… ask a question?" the big friend said timidly.

"Make it quick if you can" Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two replied.

"You've said something about a  _traitor_ before… Were you referring to Senõr Mac?"

Rachel lowered her head at the mention of the ex-operative: "This should need a much more complicated explanation and you shouldn't even be allowed to know everything of it. For now, yes, we're looking for him, and we have our own motives to do so."

"Senõra, I don't want to sound rude… But Senõr Mac is a good boy. He has been frequenting Foster's for quite some time, and I can safely say that he's one of the kindest persons I have ever met. Maybe he does act mean sometimes, but that happens usually because of Bloo."

"Yeah!" Goo added "He did much for me, too! You've probably mistaken him for someone else!"

Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two turned the other way: "Perhaps he had not told you  _everything_  about himself… Squad, move!"

With that abrupt interruption of the argue, the Supreme Leader left Goo and Eduardo speechless as her and the operatives began going up the stairs of the foyer. It took them some seconds to realize they were being left behind and to run up to reach them. Eventually, the entire group began its journey in the dark depths of the house…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter had been originally intended to be together with the next one, but I decided to divide them in order to make the length more coherent with the rest of the story.


	10. The Dark One

_Curse me… Me and my ideas…_

Wallabee was at the moment insulting himself for the lack of forethought. He was walking in a remote hallway of the house, where no light was found: his SPLANKER had no flashlight applied on it, so the darkness was almost complete. The hound he had been chasing had disappeared from his sight basically as soon as he ran after him, and the boy was considering the possibility that it had been just an hallucination.

_All right, now I'm going back and meet up with Numbuh One, he'll sure know what to do… Or maybe not, I'll lose too much time… Oh man, what the crud is happening to me?_

Before Wallabee could continue his internal argue with himself, his movement was stopped by the sudden appearance of a entrance on the right side of the hallway. While Wallabee's eyes were already adjusted for the dark, he wouldn't have seen it if it weren't for what seemed like an unknown noise coming from the tall portal.

Numbuh Four had no idea where to go at the moment, so he thought it was a good choice to follow the sound and investigate. He therefore went through the entrance, continuing to keep a hand on the left sidewall in order to have some type of reference to rely on.

While he walked, the noise began to get slightly louder. It was weird… Numbuh Four couldn't say what was emitting it yet. As he got nearer to the source, Numbuh Four questioned his ability to decide what was good and what was bad to do. Whatever was emitting the sound, it wasn't something  _pretty._

However, Wallabee exited the second hallway before he could make up his mind and turn around. The room he was in now was big, but he couldn't quite catch what type of room it was because of the lack of light. In any case, he could now listen correctly to the noise… and smell the horrible stench that permeated the air.

"What the… ugh!" Wallabee lamented while he blocked his noise with his free hand "What is going on here?"

" _Hello, Wallabee."_

Before Numbuh Four could realize who had addressed him, he was dazzled by an electrical light. When he regained the use of his eyes, the dimensions of what was in front of him nearly made him swallow his tongue.

An enormous chandelier on the ceiling of the room had been someway turned on, and the entire chamber was now illuminated of a feeble light. It was one of the enormous node rooms of Foster's, which were constellated of doors on the sides that were linked with just as many hallways. This room in particular had two separate floors, the higher one being a terrace that circled the entire hall. An automatic electric spotlight, surely a recent addition, was directed to the Aussie's location.

The most striking object of the sight, however, wasn't the chamber itself, but what it contained.

Numbuh Four continued to remain motionless, shocked, while he stared at the enormous  _thing_ in front of him. The monstrosity was gigantic: its height reached the upper floor, and it blocked the entire room, cutting it in half with its body. It wasn't a normal creature, nor a beast or an animal. It was a mixture of black material that twirled and moved inside the entire thing, in all likelihood the same the dark hounds were made of. There were no eyes nor limbs or anything similar: if it wasn't for the internal movements, as well as the horrible noises and the smell the thing emitted, it could have been mistaken for a simple wall.

And just at the centre of the above mentioned hall, there was an opening that let Wallabee see into what looked like a control room. Inside, five kids watched Numbuh Four with evil smiles. Each one of the Delightful Children kept in one hand a black bulge that was linked directly with the black material around them. They seemed unfazed by the appearance and odour of the monster they were controlling.

" _How pleasant it is to meet you here! We've been waiting for you, you know. In fact, we would have wanted to meet all of Sector V… But, guess what? You've been the first one to arrive, so you'll be the first one to experiment the… abilities of our new creation!"_

Wallabee was finding it hard to believe what he was seeing. "You… you.. you did…  _that?_  … the dogs… what in the world…" he stammered.

" _We made a little error before, Wallabee…"_ the Delightfuls explained  _"We've referred to our cute little pets as 'imaginary friends'… In fact, they're not exactly our new imaginary friend. The real one is the friend you're beholding right now!"_

The Delightfuls had already tried to summon big monsters against the Kids Next Door and in particular Sector V. The Ice-Cream one they fought before in their early KND days was only an example. But this  _thing…_ It hurt the stomach just to watch it.

Suddenly, at the bottom of the horrendous creature, various holes opened, and every one of them spawned a dark hound much similar to the one Wallabee fought before.

The blond boy instinctively moved back as six of the beasts got nearer to him with ravenous growls. He knew that he could deal with one of them, maybe even two or three at max. But six? He wasn't totally sure he could do it, not alone, but he wasn't giving in that early. However, before he could think of a plan B, the creatures stopped their approach with no apparent reason.

"Huh?" Wallabee was disoriented. He directed an angry glare up at the Delightfuls: "What are you five doing?! Just send those things fight me already!"

" _We've just realized an interesting way to make your demise… interesting, Wallabee"_ the Delightfuls answered. The tallest child moved the hand that kept the black matter, and suddenly a cage made of the same thing was revealed on the top of the creature.

The Delightful Children laughed maniacally as Wallabbe watched in horror what the cage contained, or better,  _who_ was trapped inside. Numbuh Three was visibly knocked out cold, and from the distance Numbuh Four wasn't able to tell her current conditions.

" _Shall we see if our little lone hero can save the princess this time? ATTACK!"_ the five children ordered with a yell. Immediately, the six hounds zoomed forward towards the operative.

Numbuh Four braced himself, charging his SPLANKER. The initial confuseness and fright for the sight of the imaginary friend the Delightful Children had created had been soon replaced with anger and determination. He wouldn't have been defeated without a fight, that was for sure.

But it was still surprising to see a spice red beam scoring a head shot at one of the dark hounds. The other five beasts stopped their attack, taken aback by the event.

"I should tear your head off, Numbuh Four, but that'll have to wait!" a British accented voiced came from behind him.

"Numbuh One!" Numbuh Four said "You couldn't come at a better time!". Along with his leader came the two idiots… also known as Mac and Bloo.

"…WHAT IS THAT THING!?" Bloo shouted as he pointed at the enormous monster in front of them.

"Oh… my… god…" Mac babbled while he stared at the same object, thunderstruck.

Numbuh One didn't seem to be as surprised as them by the appearance of the Delightful Children's new best friend, even though he did make a low gulp. That wasn't enough to distract him from the task at hand.

" _Nigel Uno!"_ the voice of the Delightfuls weirdly boomed  _"Just in time to join the party! And we see you've brought some new friends with you!"_

"I wouldn't already say he's our new friend…" Bloo specified.

"The feeling's mutual, but still, that doesn't change the fact that now you're going down, Delightful Children!" Numbuh One announced. For some reason he was still wearing his sunglasses, though it didn't seem they were preventing him for watching the hounds in front of them, even in the faint light that illuminated the chamber.

The Delighful Children didn't do nothing but laugh at the menace  _"You don't seem to understand the gravity of the situation, Nigel. Too bad for you… You'll soon discover how much you were in error. Kill them!"_

The hounds resumed their approach to the group of kids. Numbuh One kept his SPICER gun ready to shoot.

"All right, if we follow a strategy, we shouldn't have problems dealing with the hounds. Numbuh Four, you will… Numbuh Four?"

Nigel scanned the area, but Numbuh Four had completely disappeared. "He's left while you were talking with those children" Mac said, trying to be useful while he kept his own spice gun aimed at the enemies.

"Ugh... Numbuh Four, what are you trying to do  _now_?" Numbuh One thought out loud while he continued to look for the combat specialist around him. While giving a glance to the monster the Delightfuls were controlling, he noticed the form of a cage on the top of it. When he realized who was trapped there, he instantly knew what Numbuh Four was planning.

 _I hope you had a good idea this time, Wallabee,_ Numbuh One thought before reacting to the first swing of a dark hound's claw.

* * *

_Oh, man, why am I doing this…_

Numbuh Four was at the moment in the second floor of the chamber, on the edge of the terrace, and he was looking at the commotion happening below him. He had sneaked away from the chamber easily while the others were focused on the Delightfuls, and, after entering one of the hallways, he'd immediately found the stairs that brought to the upper part of the hall. Numbuh One, the traitor and his imaginary friend were fighting with the remaining dark hounds.

Wallabee hoped that his leader didn't think of him as a coward. He sure wasn't one to keep away from a fight, but this was another case. In fact, he could say that what he was going to do was comparable to jump down a five hundred metres high cliff.

The operative followed the trail of the terrace until he reached the part right over the black imaginary monster created by the Delightful Children. The five children didn't seem to notice him, they were too much concentrated on the fight to do so, and Wallabee didn't let this occasion go unused.

He climbed over the edge of the terrace and let himself hang from it. He tried to reach the top of the enormous thing with his shoes, but feeling nothing but air, he decided to let himself fall and pray that he wouldn't be discovered.

Wallabee landed on the surface of the monster lightly. Thank goodness he did not see dark hounds or anything else come after him, but on the other hand for one of the few times in his life, he felt disgust at the weird feeling the material he was standing on gave him. Leaving alone the smell that was barely bearable.

Trying to ignore the nausea, Wallabee marched over the monster, as much stealthily as possible, heading for the cage that was placed right over the Delightfuls' control room. He heard growls around him as another group of dark hounds was spawned and sent towards the three fighters below. Wallabee was aware of the fact that he needed to be fast.

In the end, he succeeded in reaching the 'prison' where the 'princess' was kept. Numbuh Four grabbed the black bars of the cage and, ignoring the sensation of millions of insects crawling under his hands, tried to push them away and create an opening. Despite the fact they weren't made of metal, the bars did not move of a single inch. Before he could think of another way to free his teammate, Numbuh Four saw that the prisoner was beginning to wake up.

"Numbuh Three?" he called.

"Uuuhhh… Ow… Wally? Is that you…" Numbuh Three whispered, visibly feeling an headache. The first thing she realized was where she was currently laying on.

"Shhhhh!" Numbuh Four immediately shushed, putting an hand on Numbuh Three's mouth before she could scream. They stayed in this position for five seconds before Numbuh Four actually let her speak properly.

"Listen, Kuki. Numbuh One is distracting the Delightful Children and therefore the  _thing_  we're standing on. You need to stay silent until I find a way to get you out, okay?"

"It's difficult, Wally. It's… horrible…" Numbuh Three whispered. She sat down in a corner of the cage and hid her face under her overlong sleeves, suffocating the faint whimpers she let out.

"It's not beautiful, I know, but you have to try! Think of something you like, I don't know… like Rainbow Monkeys!" Wallabee suggested. At first, he actually didn't believe he had actually suggested to think about Rainbow Monkeys.

Still, the suggestion did the trick: "I'll try…" Numbuh Three whispered back before falling in silence.

Numbuh Four drew out his SPLANKER, the only weapon he was currently carrying, with the purpose to use it to destroy the cage where Numbuh Three was imprisoned. However, he suddenly felt that someone, or  _something,_ was watching him. The fast movement he saw out of the corner of his eye afterwards eventually made him suspicious.

Turning his head, Numbuh Four at the last second realized the threat and evaded the lunge. When he became able to watch the new enemy, he knew he was in deep trouble.

A tendril was protruding from the monster's body like a natural extension of it. The tendril acted like it had its own soul as it moved around Wallabee and kept its sharp, dangerous tip directed at him.

Wallabee did the same as he continued to keep the tendril under his sight, ready to use the SPLANKER to defend himself. He was so focused he did not notice the creation of an opening behind him, from where emerged five kids with evil smiles.

" _Oh, Wallabee, you really wanted to save your precious Kuki there, didn't you?"_ the Delighfuls mocked, thus making Wallabee jump in surprise  _"How cute… Too bad your struggles will result to be useless!"_

The tallest out of the two girls tightened her grasp on the bunch of black substance the five kids were still keeping in their hands. As on cue, the tendril zapped towards Wallabee.

"Oh, CRUD!" he shouted before kneeling down, almost not avoiding the attack. The tendril didn't stop itself and Wallabee was forced to continue to jump sideways and dodge the various attacks coming from the tentacle.

Then, Wallabee realized that if the Delightful Children were really controlling the monster, he only needed to take them out to win this fight. So, after dodging the nth lunge, he charged towards the five arch enemies of the Kids Next Door.

" _Smart move. But predictable…"_ the Delightfuls said as the boy that wore a Football mask sent a second command with his hand. Numbuh Four was sent flying on the opposite direction as something struck him from below with an uppercut.

While the boy licked a first trail of blood that streamed out of his mouth, he watched in what could be seen as fright the new addition to the monster's arsenal: a giant hammer made of the black substance.

The hammer was quickly sent against him, and Wallabee had for the umpteenth time to move away quickly in order to save himself from being crushed.  _"Run, Wallabee, run!"_ the Delightfuls laughed as they watched the boy try to evade the attacks.

Then, Wallabee found himself entrapped between the hammer and the tendril from before. This time, he had no places where to go.

The Delightful Children were sure that this was going to be their first member of Sector V they succeeded in disposing of. At least, they were of that idea until they heard an unnatural, loud lament coming from the inside of the imaginary monster.

Taken aback, the Delightful turned to the source of the disturbance: Numbuh One and Mac were currently shooting with their guns at the centre of the monster, and the creature, despite its size, didn't seem to like it one bit.

"What? Is that all you can send against us?" Numbuh One taunted. Around him there were either stunned dark hounds or black puddles.

"I expected a bit more from you, being this our first encounter!" Mac added.

"Tsk, nothing surprising from someone who willingly helped Mr. Herriman…" Bloo finished, trying to sound boastful.

" _How you… Umph, we'll see how courage will be left in you after this!"_ the Delightfuls fired back as the blonde girl and the boy with the hidden face once again moved their hands. The tendril and hammer that were going to attack Wallabee moved away, heading for the three fighters… as well as another hammer and an entire group of tendrils.

Wallabee took advantage of the distraction right away when he saw the Delightful Children descend inside the creature once again. He ran towards Numbuh Three and prepared the SPLANKER.

"Watch Out, Kuki, I'm taking you outta there!" Wallabee said before pushing the trigger. Numbuh Three was already watching him with a half-opened eye, and her answer wasn't the one he expected.

"WALLY, LOOK OUT!"

Turning to avoid the attack of another tendril, Wallabee was instead greeted by the sight of a dark hound, his white eyes staring right into his ones. The creature that had sneaked behind him without being heard was too much near to escape.

He was not even able to curse before the hound struck him with a blow right on the face, successfully knocking him out.

* * *

Bloo rolled on the floor, and the black hammer fell at his side, breaking the pavement but missing him. The imaginary friend was then forced to stand up and run away from the swings of a pair of tendrils that tried to slice him in multiple pieces.

Mac and Numbuh One weren't in a much better situation. They had the advantage of owning each a spice gun, but that was found to be effective only against the blades. The hammer was heavier and it didn't react to the spice rounds shot to it, so the two of them were spending the time trying to shoot at as much tendrils as possible while avoiding the hammer's attacks.

The various weapons were controlled with a series of long channels that acted as the tentacles of an octopus. The Delightful Children weren't happy of the fact that their enemies were still alive, but when a dark hound appeared in front of them, they knew that Numbuh Four had fallen into the simple trap they had prepared.

Thus, when the various tentacles returned to their master, Nigel, Mac and Bloo didn't understand the reason of it.

"What? Are they calling black mamba nukes now?" Bloo sarcastically said while he directed an annoyed glare at the monster.

"They… Oh, no!" Numbuh One gasped. Bloo didn't see where the problem was until he noticed what him and Mac were watching.

The black tentacles were manoeuvring the cage in front of the Delightful Children's location inside the monster, under the control of the dumpy, short girl… and inside the cage Numbuh Four and Three lay, the former trying to recover from the previous hit and the latter still keeping her eyes shut and shuddering in fright.

" _Oh, look what we have there…"_ the five villains sang together  _"Don't they look like the best couple ever? A shame that such a scene is going to be terminated… Look, Numbuh One. Look while we slain your operatives in front of you!"_

Suddenly, various blade tendrils appeared from the enormous imaginary friend's body and raced for the cage where Numbuh Four and Three were trapped in. The fastest of them was only a meter away from it when a spice round hit it, disintegrating the entire tentacle.

"I won't just look while you do your business, Delightful Children!" Numbuh One said resolutely "I'll do whatever is needed to stop you, and I won't give up anytime soon!"

" _You can do whatever you want, Nigel"_ the well-behaved kids replied  _"Everything you'll come up will at most delay the inevitable…"_

Three more tendrils dashed towards the cage. Numbuh Three screamed and grabbed Numbuh Four's neck for dear life, thus nearly strangling him. Nigel shot two consecutive rays from his SPICER that vaporized one tentacle each, but he wasn't enough fast to hit the third one…

…which was still struck by a third round.

" _Mac. Why are you helping these Kids Next Door? The same ones that treated you like nothing more than an object for their experiments?"_ the Delightfuls asked, showing a far bigger knowledge of Mac's past than everyone else had expected.

The SPICER trembled in Mac's hand as he thought over the question.

"Because… Because they aren't like the scientists at the Deep Sea lab. These operatives had at first tried to bring all the imaginary friends away… But because they believed they were imprisoned here. And when they realized they were wrong… They didn't persist, but they helped us."

Now the boy's grip on the weapon wasn't so insecure as before: "They helped us in fighting the imaginary friends you sent against us. They came to our aid outside, where the others were fighting your henchmen. You were the cause of all the mess from the very beginning! I should have realized who you really were when I saw you this afternoon: when I served in the Kids Next Door I was only briefly told about you, but now I believe you are far worse than those descriptions. You tried to kill not only these operatives and me, but also my friends, including my best one!"

Mac's face was empty of any trace of fright or doubt. "I'm technically still a Kids Next Door operative, but even if I wasn't, I'd still help Nigel and his teammates now. No matter what happened in the past!"

" _Pathetic…"_ the Delightfuls commented with a sickened tone  _"You really sound like a Kids Next Door. It doesn't really matter… We'll get rid of you and all your friends as well!"_

A new series of tendrils zapped towards the cage where Wallabee and Kuki were kept. Nigel and Mac tried their best to eliminate the tentacles, but these as the two kids continued their defence got nearer and nearer to the two imprisoned operatives. Bloo was powerless without weapons and could do nothing but gape at the scene.

Numbuh Four began thinking that this was really the end. Maybe this was his last chance to…

"Numbuh Three?"

Numbuh Three was hugging him tightly and she didn't seem to want to let him away anytime soon. She opened her eyes to watch in his ones, and the blond boy swallowed.

"Ahem, now, Kuki, there was this thing that I wanted to tell you, but I didn't have the courage to say, so…"

"You really like Rainbow Monkeys like I do?" Kuki asked.

"No, of course no, I have already told you-… Ugh, nevermind. I just wanted to say..."

He was stopped by a tendril that succeeded in entering the cage and was destroyed only two meters away from them.

"Oh, no, do you mean I'm going to die with another nut stuck in my teeth!?" Kuki squeaked.

"No, no, no! Kuki, I just… I… Oh, crud. I L-…"

Unfortunately for Wallabee, this wasn't going to be the moment he had been waiting for. But it wasn't a tentacle piercing through them to stop it. It was a definitely more noisy cause. Something like an explosion that actually deafened the two operatives.

Suddenly, the channels that were keeping the cage up disappeared, therefore making it vaporize and letting its content fall. Kuki and Wallabee began screaming at the same time before eventually reaching the ground, hitting it  _hard_. The Asian girl landing right  _over_  the Australian boy.

"Oh, crud… How can this get worse now?" Numbuh Four moaned. He was pretty sure he had at least one rib shredded now.

"Enough complaining, Numbuh Four! You'll have all the time you want for it  _after_  we leave this place!" a female voice ordered. And it wasn't Kuki.

"Numbuh Five?"

A black hand appeared in front of him "Yes, and you should get up now before I reconsider going under this  _thing_ to help you!"

For once, Numbuh Four ignored his pride and grabbed the hand to help himself stand. Around him he noticed the form of an imaginary friend… the tall, red one he had seen in the first part of the mission. He was at the moment helping Numbuh Three to remain steady on her own legs with his lone hand.

Then, the blond boy watched over him only to see the blackness of the creature body. They were  _really_ under him, but this zone had been completely blown out by the explosion that freed the two operatives.

"Let's go, quick!" Numbuh Five said while he put Wallabee's arm around her shoulder. Wilt and Kuki followed them suit and in some seconds they were out of the creature's range and joined with the rest of the group.

"Guys! You're all right?" Numbuh Two asked worriedly as he ran to meet them.

"I'm okay… I think…" Numbuh Three answered. She wasn't too much hurt fortunately, tough her head still hurt from the previous knock-out.

"Never been better in my life…" Numbuh Four said ironically while he gritted his teeth for the pain he was feeling. Yep, maybe even two ribs shredded.

"Man, you really need some help!" a female voice said. Numbuh Four found his lungs out of air as the Red Demon kneeled in front of him and began controlling his face: "We should call an ambulance as soon as possible!"

Wallabee was still trying to catch on the fact she had not tried to kill him when Numbuh Five cut her off: "We'll think about it when we're out! Move!"

" _You're not going anywhere!"_

"COCO!" Coco suddenly squawked when she saw a group of eight dark hounds appear from the same entrance to the room they had come from.

" _We've been planning this for an entire month, and we're not letting you get out of it alive!"_ the Delightful Children shouted in anger. The shortest boy moved his hand, activating the last and unknown command…

…the problem was, nothing happened.

" _What are you waiting for? Do something!"_ the other four Delightful Children yelled furiously when they realized that the command had not been received.

The addressed boy was even more confused, but he had not the chance to give an explanation. The internal room the Delightfuls were in began shuddering, and various parts of the creature's body began falling from above them in large chunks.

" _What's this? What are you doing?"_ the five kids said together to a listener that could only be the creature itself. There were already hints of fright in their voice, feelings that their control over the enormous monster had somehow been taken away from them.

Unfortunately for them, those thoughts proved to be right when, without even having the time to scream, the Delightful Children found a hole suddenly appearing under them. The group of evil youngsters was literally  _sucked_ into the creatures' body.

All of this happened under the incredulous eyes of the Sector V operatives and the Foster's gang. But it was only the beginning.

Slowly, the various black tentacles and life wires that linked the black form with the chamber began getting cut by an unknown force, and the 'wall' separated in different parts that moved on the pavement like giant blobs.

These 'blobs' later crawled to attack on each other, and in the centre of the room a new form began its transformation.

It was in that moment that a memory came back to Frankie's mind. The young woman nearly chocked herself in the consequent gulp, one that was noticed by Wilt.

"Frankie? You're all right?" Wilt asked worriedly while he walked to get near her.

"I'm okay, It's just… Oh, god, it's happening… It's one of them…" Frankie said while staring at the morphing monster.

"What?" Wilt wasn't catching on what she was saying.

"Them? Them  _who?_ Who are you talking about?" Numbuh Five asked when she overheard the last words of the redhead.

"My grandma, she told me once… She told me that imaginary friends can indeed be created to be a bit mean or dangerous. Like the ones we keep in the cage outside, or the extremosaurus we've had to do with before you came here. But my grandma was sure that even those imaginary friends had an inner good heart, and it was mainly due to their creators or their appearance that they acted the way they did. However, this wasn't the case for everyone…"

"Cococo?" Coco asked, entrapped. It was the first time she had been listening to Frankie talking about this, and she was sure the same could apply for Wilt.

"Yes, Coco. When a creator creates a friend with the only and only purpose to do evil, and nothing else… when there is a complete lack of love in the process of creation… That's when a Dark One is created. Not an imaginary friend, but a monster who won't listen to anyone… not even its own creator, and won't be pleased until every living being around is…  _dead_."

Numbuh Five, Four and Three as well as Coco and Wilt watched the new-born monster in front of them. The Dark One had by that moment completed successfully its metamorphosis.

The previous wall-like look was long gone. The newly born creature was definitely more similar to its spawnlings, as it shared the four-legged animal general look with them. However, this one wasn't wolf like: its body was definitely more muscular and well-constructed, resembling more the one an animal similar to a feline. However, the most notably feature of the Dark One were its fangs: in addition to a series of sharp teeth two, long, saber-like canines exited out of its mouth, both of them too big to be kept inside its jaws.

The size of the creature was proportioned to the size of its previous form.  _Enormous._

The Dark One's head mechanically rotated and its two, white, ominous eyes fell on the group. Then, it roared, releasing a sound wave that cracked every glass object in the near rooms and hallways.

While almost deafened by the call of the creature, the operatives, the imaginary friends and Frankie were all able to hear the yelps of surprise of the dark hounds behind them which were supposed to fight them and the footsteps of their fast retreat.

In the end, the Dark One made an initial step towards them.

" _RUN!"_

Numbuh Five mentally apologized when Numbuh Four wheezed in protest at her sudden movement, but she was sure that if they didn't want to be caught by that monstrosity they needed to  _run_ now, or else they'd be doomed.

But while she was moving, she heard another roar coming from the Dark One's position. This one was different, like it was a call of annoyance.

When she whirled her head to get a look to the giant smilodon, the creature was watching the opposite direction. It didn't took her too long to realize who had distracted the Dark One.

_Numbuh One!_

* * *

Numbuh One felt sweat forming around him when the white, unemotional eyes of the smilodon fixed on him. However, the saber-toothed creature didn't really care about him yet as it turned around another time to return to his previous occupation.

That wasn't what Numbuh One wanted. He needed to distract the creature and bring it to pursue him. Being alone and relatively healthy he would have been able to sneak away if necessary much easier than the other, bigger group. With that thought, the leader of Sector V once again raised his SPICER and shot another spice ray at the monster. The Dark One growled, but it didn't bulge and ignored it.

Numbuh One persisted in his attempts to capture the creature attention's, but it was now completely focused on the group on the other side of the chamber. His gun alone wasn't enough to do any damage. He needed more fire power, but how could he…

The eyes under Numbuh One's shades widened when another spice ray hit the creature in the same spot he was aiming. Together the two shots were able to pierce through the Dark One skin, harder than the simple surface of its previous form, and the monster this time definitely felt the hit.

Nigel gave a quick look to the responsible of the second attack. Mac seemed to be nervous, but that had not been enough to stop him from helping him.

"Well, now he's mad…" he said as the monster slowly rotated his body to face them.

"That was something I wanted. Thanks for the help, Numbuh Two-Hundred-One, but now you'll have to get away with your imaginary friend. I'll make him follow him and…"

"No."

Numbuh One blinked at the sudden interruption: "Huh?"

"We have attacked him both. If we separate, there's a chance he could attack me and Bloo instead of you. We'll escape together, I know some passages in the house we can use to make that beast lose us."

"I… appreciate your help" Numbuh One said awkwardly "But it's not necessary. I won't order you."

"Well, my decision remains the same!" Mac affirmed, a strange smile on his face.

The Dark One gained their utter attention when the beast made a step towards them. When its leg touched the pavement, the entire room lightly shook under its weight.

Mac and Nigel both raised their spice guns to send a final message of war to the monster, but they were interrupted by the third party member.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING? ARE YOU NUTS!" Bloo shouted "YOU'VE JUST LOST YOUR FREAKING MIND OR…!?"

Mac sighed. What he was going to do wasn't easy, but it was needed. He approached Bloo and, suddenly, shoved him away from himself,

"Off! What's wrong in you, Mac?"

"Go away, Bloo!"

After five seconds, all Bloo could say in response was "…what?"

"I said go away! Hide yourself somewhere far from here, it's mad at  _us_ , not you! We'll meet up later after we deal with it!"

"Deal with him? It's freaking more than twenty feet high! How are you supposed to…"

"We'll think about it! Now GO!" Mac ordered and pushed Bloo again, harder than before. Bloo moved back mechanically as he watched his creator and the bald kid shoot another round of their spice guns at the Dark One. The beast was now  _really_  mad at them, so much that after an ultimate war cry, it leapt and went through the entire space dividing them in a matter of seconds.

Seconds that were spent by Mac and Nigel by screaming in fright and running away through the nearest of the side doors. After landing, and leaving what could be called a crater, the smilodon right away began its pursue of the two kids. The creature crashed through the edges of the portal where the two kids had escaped into and disappeared into the shadows, completely ignoring Bloo, shocked and fixed to a nearby wall..

The members of the group on the opposite side of the chamber shared with him a similar state of emotions. The first one to actually scroll off from herself the surprise was Numbuh Five "All right guys, Numbuh One has bought us some time, so we better not waste it. Let's move!"

"Wait! Bloo has not come with them!" Wilt warned, pointing with a finger to a single blue dot.

"Cococo, cococococo…"

"Yes. I really can't believe Mac did do that. The Dark One… heck! How is he going to be able to escape  _that?"_ Frankie said, worried for the young boy.

"Don't worry about him, Numbuh One is one of the best Kids Next Door operatives I've ever known, he'll get both of them out of it. In any case, make it quick!"

Frankie nodded to Numbuh Five's suggestion, and shouted: "Bloo! Bloo, come on, we need to get out of the house while we can!"

The blue imaginary friend did not move.

"What's that idiot doing now? Can't we just leave him here?" Numbuh Four protested. Abigail was still helping him, using her shoulder to give him an additional support.

"I think… this may be more difficult than I expected. Give me a minute" Frankie said before walking away to reach the imaginary friend.

When she met up with Bloo, Frankie instantly knew that something had snapped in the little blue blob. She kneeled down to put herself nearer to him, and put a gentle hand on his head.

"He… did… go. He just… He… He…" Bloo stuttered with a tone that he was rarely being seen to use.

"Bloo…" Frankie began.

" _He went away!"_ Bloo suddenly cried "He has just made himself being pursued by the most dangerous imaginary friend ever existed in the world with a guy who had just tried to capture him!"

"Bloo, we need to go. Mac can take care of himself, and that other  _guy_  in fact is the one that may be able to help him in that situation. But if you just stay here, his plan is going to be useless." Frankie tried with the reasoning.

"…you're right. You find somewhere safe, I'll go looking for him."

"Bloo…"

"No! I'm not changing my idea! Not in any… Any means!" Bloo cut her off, cleaning his face from tears he hadn't still recognized as his ones.

But Frankie wasn't going to mock him for his weakness as he thought she would. With unexpected lightness, she picked him up and put him on her chest, keeping him like a little child.

"I'm not crying… For… I…" Bloo babbled before eventually surrendering to the overwhelming feeling inside him of having just lost someone important.

"You've not lost anyone yet, Bloo" Frankie comforted, practically reading his mind "Mac is an intelligent kid and he's not alone.  _He'll make it through_ , trust me."

Frankie returned to the group that had been watching the entire scene until that moment. Every one of them, imaginary friend or Kids Next Door operative, was silent and didn't dare to comment. Still carrying the whining blue form, Frankie made a sign for Numbuh Five, who nodded in response and began leading the group out of the chamber where the Dark One had been first created.


	11. Mission Accomplished

"You still don't have a plan?"

Numbuh One didn't answer, but he instead shot the dark hound that had appeared in the middle of his path. The creature whined at the hit, and Sector V's leader made sure to soothe its pain with a kick that got it off of the route. Thus, him and Mac resumed their escape in the hallways, with the heavy steps of the giant smilodon still correctly audible.

"No, I don't! Gimme some more seconds!" Numbuh One eventually said while he gave a quick look behind. When he saw the pair of white, vicious eyes was still keeping them under its sight, he quickly refocused on his front. He wouldn't have said that out loud, but he had no idea at the moment how to solve this situation with something that didn't imply the devouring of himself and Numbuh Two-Hundred-One.

"Well, I  _do_  have one!" Mac said, still running like he never did before "That monster is big, so we'll slow him down if we pass through the smallest passages of the house. We should find a secondary spiral staircase that'll led us to the floor below us shortly, follow me!"

Mac sprinted forward, overcoming Nigel and leading him to one of the doors on the sidewalls. When they reached their target, Mac literally burst through it as they had not the time to open it normally.

In fact, the two kids had begun descending through the stairs only five seconds ago when the Dark One reached them and with a simple blow of his front paws disintegrated the wall that separated them from him. The passage was however smaller than him by a long degree, so the beast was forced to literally dig into the concrete to follow the two kids.

Mac's suggestion therefore made the two fugitives gain some additional seconds.

"Well, now?" Numbuh One asked when they exited from the bottom of the staircase and they resumed running.

"We're heading for a big chamber we should see on the right. There we'll have more space to use when that monster arrives, and we won't be caught in the dead ends Foster's is awfully full of."

"How can you be so sure it'll instantly knew we have…"

A crash was heard, followed right after by a loud, furious roar.

"Nevermind, RUN!" he finished as the both of them increased their speed.

The Dark One was not pleased to see its prey away from it, so it didn't waste more time in idling. The fast footsteps of the monster were able to make the area around it tremble and creak.

Numbuh One wasn't looking forward to have a face-off with the smilodon. He hoped that by now the Kids Next Door were already inside the house looking for them, because he sure would have liked some additional firepower at the moment, leaving alone the fact that he had previously found out his SPICER had depleted.

He continued to run, following the short kid in front of him, when Mac suddenly made a fast turn in another hallway. When Nigel reached the above mentioned place, he was momentarily surprised to see no one in the area.

"Here! HURRY UP!" Mac called. He was hiding in what could be called as… an air vent? Numbuh One wasn't completely sure about exactly what that little metal tunnel was, but it decided to accept it as it was, considering the heavy noises made by the Dark One approaching him. He ducked down and entered the vent quickly, then he closed the entrance behind him and followed Mac deeper into the vent. He carefully listened to the footsteps of the giant smilodon coming to an end behind him, and the beast itself growling in annoyance.

He heard sounds of walls being cut through like party paper as the Dark One tried to locate them in the nearby concrete. He and Mac both quickened their pace and stopped only when the noises stopped.

They heard a final lament of protest, after which the entire mansion, at least from their perspective, fell into an utter silence.

"Turn off the flashlight. I think we are safe… for now" Mac whispered.

Numbuh One raised an eyebrow at the command: "I should be the one giving orders here…" he pointed out, though he  _did_  turn off the light on his SPICER.

"Umph, like I had not just saved your butt…" Mac grumbled.

"Let's keep this argue for another moment. I'm out of ammo, I guess you're in a similar situation…" Numbuh One said.

"You guessed right. We may as well drop these here…" Mac confirmed as he examined the weird magazine inserted into the spice gun.

"Right, but let's keep the flashlights. They can be helpful in case we end up in another escape."

Mac grunted in response but didn't say anything else while he took apart his gun, waiting for Numbuh One to continue his speech.

"So… we're near a big room now? Like the one we were in before?"

"Mmmh-mmmh" Mac answered "It's one of the stages that are used during parties like birthdays or special events. This passage opens up on the other side on one of the side platforms that circle the area."

"You think that the monster is in there as well?"

"I don't think of it, I'm fairly sure it is there waiting for us. Let's just hope he can't smell like some type of dog…"

"What? Haven't you visited this house daily for months, Numbuh Two-Hundred-One? You should know a lot about imaginary friends."

"That's true, and I can also say I've never seen something like that in all that time" Mac replied.

"…just great. All right, keeping in mind that returning from where we came is out of the question, we may as well get out of here and see what's the situation in that room."

Mac suddenly turned his head to watch Numbuh One "Huh? What about waiting for the reinforcements?"

"That's exactly what we're doing, but in case we have a chance to flee we must exploit it and find a safer location, far from this area. That beast is probably looking for us now, and he may be able to find our hiding place if we wait here. Lead the way."

Even though he would have decided otherwise, Mac thought that Nigel's reasoning was good, so he accepted the order and crawled towards the other bottom of the vent. Their speed decreased to a slow pace when they were near to the exit.

There, Mac stopped and listened. The silence was almost complete… if it wasn't for the eerie, long breaths of the Dark One and his light but still audible steps as he paced around the chamber. The creature eyes weren't visible, and judging from the sounds' extent Mac concluded it was at the moment on the opposite side of the room. No source of light was present, with all the lights turned off and the windows blocked by covers outside.

Slowly, Mac opened the grate and lightly put it on the surface of the floating walkway. When he was sure he had not been heard, he carefully exited the vent and stood up. He afterwards waited for Numbuh One to do the same.

"There's another vent like this one at the end of this platform. If we manage to reach it, we'll be able to escape the room and leave that monster to himself" Mac informed.

"I'm curious about how you know so much about these vents…" Numbuh One whispered curiously. Their voice was so light it was hard for both of them to listen to each other, but that was needed if they wanted to remain undetected.

"Me and Bloo use it to enter when-…wait, this isn't the right situation to ask something like that!"

Numbuh One allowed himself to smirk, even though he wasn't sure he could be seen in the darkness "Sorry, I had to. Let's get the heck out of here while we can…"

Mac left the mutters for another moment as he and Nigel began walking cautiously, following the walkway path. While the platform was made out of metal, they were able to pass through half of it without doing enough noise to alert the smilodon.

Suddenly, the monster roared, visibly mad for the loss of its prey. Mac and Numbuh One did their best to stay unmoved and wait for some type of reaction from the giant, but eventually the creature resumed its monotone pacing.

However, when Mac made another step towards their ticket out of the frying pan, he noticed the Dark One suddenly stopping his regular breath.

Something had taken his attention.

And when the boy saw two white eyes looking at him from the distance, Mac knew they were probably doomed.

" _RUN FOR IT!"_

The platform emitted loud noises as the two kids began running for their lives on it, while the smilodon went after them instantly.

Despite their efforts, the beast was able to precede them and reach the last part of the platform before the two kids did. Here, the Dark One, who alone was taller than the platform itself, swung his claws at it, piercing through it like a knife on butter. The platform therefore started to collapse to the floor, a section at a time.

"Watch out!" Numbuh One shouted when the walkway under them began falling. The two kids grabbed the edge of the platform and kept themselves attached to it while they fell. However, their fall was stopped when the collapse of the platform came to an end, probably due to the recovery of a second equilibrium in the half-destroyed structure.

The two of them knew they weren't safe: the Dark One should already have been on them by that moment, but it wasn't what happened. While they haughtily climbed down what remained of the walkway, Numbuh One turned on his flashlight and he realized along with Mac that the smilodon was momentarily blocked. A part of the ceiling had been separated from the rest of the house as a consequence of the demolition of the walkway and had fallen right over the monster.

The Dark One was at the moment angrily trying to free himself from the collection of metal bars and concrete chunks that blocked a good part of its body, including its powerful claws. It was the occasion they needed.

"Go, go, go!" Numbuh One yelled as they ran through the chamber towards the immobilized nightmare. They moved past the beast, furious for being unable to capture them, and they made a beeline for the second entrance. However, lady luck had already stopped to be keen on helping them.

Suddenly, a pack of dark hounds exited from the exact double door they were heading for, growling at them. They were numerous, far too much to handle for the two of them. Fifteen, maybe even twenty.

"Oh, DANG!" Numbuh One shouted angrily as he desperately tried to think of another way to get out of the place or scatter these additional annoyances out of the way.

Yet, his time ran out when he heard another cry of war coming from behind him. When Nigel saw the Dark One oh so slowly coming towards them, he considered the possibility to just surrender to his destiny. They were surrounded, and using his boost boots would only have made him a better target for the huge beast, especially now that it wasn't distracted.

"Uhmm… This looks like the end, isn't it?" Mac said with a strangely quiet tone.

"Ugh, Numbuh Two-Hundred-One… I shouldn't think negative, there's always a second plan, a way to get out of a situation, no matter how extreme it is. But the only thing I could think of now is hoping for a  _miracle…"_

"We'll, let's hope then while we wait to be sliced to bits…" Mac continued. He watched the ground helplessly as the Dark One approached them and made sure they were able to see his entire set of fangs. The dark hounds, reluctant to join their superior version, stared at them from a distance.

"…I'm just happy to know that my friends are safe…"

"I could say the same for my friends too, Mac…" Nigel said. Mac eyed him, surprised to hear his own name from the KND operative: "…We're more similar than I expected. You really have some leader aura around you."

"Well, I  _was_ leader of Sector IF back then, after the previous one turned to the teen ninjas. How ironic…"

"You don't have to blame yourself, Mac. Now I really understand your reasons and I can't really think about anything to criticize your decision. I only wish we could have showed the others…"

The leader of Sector V was going to face the end face forth, so he observed the Dark One while he raised his right claws. That did not prevent him from noticing a lone tear falling from Mac's eyes.

"…I'm sorry… I'm sorry, Bloo..."

…

…

Then, the electrical lights of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends came back on in their entirety.

Mac and Nigel didn't even have the time to process the new event: the dark hounds as well as the smilodon began screeching and whining in pain the exact instant the lights had returned.

The two of them exchanged a quick glance before eventually turning on their heels and dashing away from the growling smilodon. They passed though the group of dark hounds easily as they were both stunned and dazzled by the sudden light.

The fact was, it was still only electrical light, so there were as well some creatures that began pursuing them as soon as they recovered the ability to use their legs.

Mac and Nigel burst out of the entrance and run through the now illuminated hallways. Behind them, eight dark hounds struggled to follow them.

"The electrical light is slowing them down! We may even be able to make it!" Mac said, feeling hope rising inside him. However, that feeble emotion was soon forgotten when the two of them saw the Dark One destroying its way out of the previous chamber and coming after them, too. While he was indeed slower than before, the beast didn't seem to be too much affected by the electrical light. If anything, it was madder than ever.

In fact, the two of them were frightened by the sight of tendrils similar to the ones used by the previous stage appearing on the smilodon's back. These tendril were then shot by the creature like hedgehogs' spikes towards the ceiling over Numbuh One and Mac. Soon the two kids had to escape through a fall of chunks of concrete and wood.

"Agh!" Mac shouted when a rock missed him for a centimetre "I don't think we can stand this way forever!"

"Let's look for an opened window! Those reinforcements should have already got into the house by now!" Numbuh One suggested.

"I sure hope so!" Mac replied before avoiding a rock that used to be a part of the ceiling. The dark hound behind him wasn't so lucky and was splatted instantly. The smaller beasts that were chasing them were now, to be precise, escaping  _with_  them from the common threat of the Dark One.

"All right, brace yourself! I'll try get us outta here!" Numbuh One announced. Without even explaining his current plan, he activated his boots-rockets and grabbed Mac's arm, who became the one to be carried away by a flying kid much like what happened with Bloo before.

The dark hounds were easily left behind, but the Dark One wasn't letting them get away that easily. With a roar of utter madness the beast began leaping in the hallways instead of running, crashing numerous times on the walls and splatting various unfortunate dark hounds under its feet. That way, the creature, though damaged, was able to continue to follow them throughout entire floors and series of stairs without losing them, until the fuel that operated Nigel's special boots finished.

"That thing does not surrender, doesn't it?" Mac said as they landed on the floor of another, lower floor of the mansion.

"Let's think about it later!" Nigel cut off before they resumed they race. It was in that moment that they saw what seemed like an area with more light than the others, as well as what seemed like… voices?

"Bingo! We're almost there! GO!" Numbuh One shouted as they made a final sprint. They soon entered a second node chamber slightly smaller than the one where the monster had been created first… where a group of Kids Next Door operatives was trying to open the side windows.

The group was at first confused by their appearance, but Numbuh One made sure to briefly tell them about their current problem "Enormous monster arriving! Prepare for defence!"

"Numbuh One!" a female voice called.

"MAC!" another female voice as well as a Portuguese-accented male one shouted.

"MONSTER! KILL IT!" a series of different voices cried at the sight of the smilodon making its epic appearance.

The Dark One was not pleased. He had suffered constant burning from the lights unitl that moment, and now he was under heavy fire from laser rifles. Yet, the only thing this new addition managed to do was to make it completely lose its mind.

The beast roared before leaping at the centre of the chamber, its claws ready to slash a group of operatives in one, lethal swing. However, it soon realized that the action was going to be more complicated than he expected.

One of the large side windows of the node chamber was abruptly opened, and the sun, though almost under the earth and near to set, sent its last rays to illuminate the room and therefore who was inside, including the Dark One.

The monster made a loud, terrible lament before losing control of its legs and falling to the floor. Its body was already dissolving, but nonetheless the smilodon began to crawl towards the operatives in an attempt to catch them.

"KEEP FIRING! DON'T LET HIM HAVE A SECOND TO REST!" Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two ordered while she shot another ration of her SPICER towards the creature.

"It works! Open the other windows, fast! We need as much sunlight as possible!" Numbuh One. He and Mac had been the ones to open the first window: a group of three operatives accepted the suggestion right away, while at the same time Goo and an almost passed out Eduardo went to do the same thing with another window as well.

The beast roared in pain when these two windows were finally opened. It moaned and growled, but it was still moving and trying to catch the Kids Next Door nearby. The SCAMPPs weren't enough to put an end to its existence.

"Numbuh Twenty-Five! Where's the heavy weaponry! USE IT NOW!" Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two called.

"I'm on it, Ma'am! Give me five seconds!" the mentioned operative answered. He had dropped his SCAMPP in favour to something… definitely a lot bigger.

* * *

 _Kids Next Door:_ _**R.O.C.K.E.T.-L.A.U.N.C.H.E.R.** _

_Raging Object Creates Kemically Empowered Tacos_

–

_Landing And Unmerging Nonchalantly Crushes Henchmen Eradicating Ribs_

* * *

The new 2x4 weapon was indeed of the heavy kind. And Numbuh Twenty-Five had the chance to show it when, after managing to keep it steady, he triggered the shooting mechanism of the arm. Over the 'bazooka', six different rockets appeared, rockets that actually resembled huge propelled tacos. The weird explosives were activated and zapped away at once, heading for the monster.

These rockets were a bit more powerful than standard KND rockets, like the ones, for example, installed on their space vehicles. And the Dark One was able to experiment it on its own body.

Parts of the creatures body were sent around the chamber, scattering the floor with various black puddles. The smilodon had suffered heavy damage, too much even for a being of its size, and the sunlight that was illuminating him burnt the last remnants of its body. At first it seemed to be dead but, unexpectedly, the beast reopened its white eyes and stared at Mac and Numbuh One with a look full of hatred. He tried to push itself towards them with the only paw he had left, and drew out its claws.

"FIRE!"

A set of ten laser rifles shot towards the Dark One, scoring a direct headshot and raising a little cloud of darkened dust. When the cloud cleared, the kids realized that they had just disintegrated the Dark One's head, making the monstrosity disappear from reality  _once and for all._

"We… we… destroyed him?" Mac stuttered, finding it hard to believe what they had just achieved.

"Looks like it, Numbuh Two-Hundred-One…" Numbuh One confirmed "Now I can finally say it…  _Mission Accomplished."_

Soon the two kids were overwhelmed by questions and cheers from the members of the rescue group they had encountered. Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two bombarded Numbuh One with a request after the other, eager to know everything she could from the operative about the details of the mission's outcome. Goo and Eduardo were curious to know what had happened during their time outside, too, but they all knew that they couldn't spend all the time in telling the entire story.

There was a full platoon of operatives as well as almost all the imaginary friends of Foster's waiting for them outside, not to the mention the need to discover if the other group had made it to the foyer. So, with Mac trying to stop the flood of words from Goo and reassuring Eduardo that the beast was gone forever, Nigel getting compliments from the operatives and telling the Supreme Leader the most important moments of the mission, and Rachel keeping a suspicious eye on Mac, the group left the chamber, leaving alone the dead body of what used to be the Dark One.


	12. Clarifications

"…so this guy tried to shoot me with his gun, but he was too slow, and I avoided him easily! Then, Cheese appeared out of nowhere and began screaming like an imp, distracting the guy so I could give him a good kick from behind! Bad man really deserved it! But then, there were five of them that came to deal with us, and I thought,  _now we're lost!_ But, literally when we were going to be surrounded, that army of kids arrived and started to zap all the ice-cream dudes with their lasers! And it was AWESOME! You don't know what you've just lost Mac! Oh, and there was also Eduardo, who…"

Mac let the hyperactive girl tell him about what happened outside while he was blocked inside Foster's. He had already given up in trying to follow Goo's fast speech, but until now he had still been able to catch some events here and there. He was actually surprised to hear Goo talking about how he kicked Ice-Cream men's butt, and if he didn't know her he would have thought she was imagining things.

The little boy was walking along with the talkative friend at the centre of the group, surrounded on all sides by Kids Next Door operatives with SCAMPPs ready to use. He was aware of the fact that there was still the  _other_ problem to deal with about his previous story with these guys, but he didn't want to ruin the fun Goo was having in narrating the details of the battle in the garden. Numbuh One and Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two were behind them, too far to listen correctly to what they were discussing, though Mac had some ideas about what the main subject was. Eduardo was walking in front of the group, acting as a guide to the operatives throughout the house.

They had been moving for ten minutes, and Mac thought that they should have already reached the foyer by that moment. Thought that proved to be true when he heard a voice calling out "Eduardo!"

While he was still behind, Mac was able to see the head of Wilt making his way towards his friend. Not wanting to be left behind, Goo and Mac moved to join them, always escorted by five Kids Next Door. Around them, there were various calls and waves as the operatives met up with their friends and fellow soldiers. A girl with a strainer helmet ran to Numbuh One and Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two and began ranting at quick speed before one of them could even say 'hi'.

Mac couldn't follow the scene more as a big, red hand patted his head. "Mac! You're all right?"

"Yes, yes, Wilt. I'm okay… That  _thing,_ whatever it was, is gone."

"Wow… do you mean, it is really… gone _gone_?" Wilt was incredulous to believe that the enormous monster he had seen had just vanished out of nowhere.

"Coco co?" Coco squeaked while she joined them, as much puzzled as her tall friend.

"Yep! We pretty much showed him what Foster's is made of! Though that missile launcher from those kids was strong, and did help us… But still, it was Mac who had the idea to open the windows in order to weaken the beast!" Goo told them.

"Si, Senõr Mac has been very smart, I don't know if we would have been able to defeat that big… scary… ugh!" Eduardo added before cutting himself off at the thought of the Dark One.

"You've surprised us various times Mac, but I think that this time beats them all" Wilt complimented, sighing in relief at the news of the monster's definitive demise.

"Coco!" Coco agreed, smiling happily.

"Hey, hey, guys, slow down, I'm… it wasn't only me, you know" Mac specified as he gave a look to the three imaginary friends and the girl who were watching him "That other boy… Numbuh One. We thought of it together."

"Well, that doesn't change the fact you indeed had a role in it. Come on, just boast for a second, it's not going to hurt!" Goo teased as he slapped him on his shoulder jokingly.

Mac couldn't help but chuckle at the phrase, but he wasn't still completely at ease. After what happened, he felt the urge to tell them that little secret about his past.

"So… there is this thing related to what happened today… And I really-…"

"Coco! Cocococococo!" Coco cut him off.

"Man, you're right Coco! Come on, Mac, Bloo's outside in the garden and he's waiting for you! Frankie is here, too, she had been trying to convince him to be calm down and stay serene until now with little result. I'm sure he'll be happy to see you again in one full piece!" Wilt informed as he pushed Mac towards the fallen main door of the mansion.

The boy did not resist to the push: he knew that Wilt was right, and he was questioning himself about how could he have forgotten about his best friend. Well, he indeed had went through a lot of things that day…

Mac, Wilt, Eduardo, Coco and Goo walked through the hall, and Mac noticed Numbuh One approaching them: "Mind if I join?" he asked politely "I also have someone to see out there."

"Why not?" Goo said "I must say you were awesome too, back there! How can you all Kids Next Door, if that's how you call yourselves, be that good with weapons, fighting and all?"

"Oh, you can't even begin to think about how big and extended the Kids Next Door are… The training is only one step of it" Numbuh One replied.

"Well, I can still  _imagine!"_  Goo continued while she began bombarding Nigel with another flow of questions, to which the boy, who still stubbornly wore his sunglasses even with the sun definitely set and the light slowly fading out, reacted with surprising ease.

 _This boy is really someone who knows his business,_ thought Mac,  _if it wasn't for him I'd probably be cat food by now…_

"NUMBUH ONE!"

The Foster's group scattered away as four kids rushed over to Numbuh One and began doing all the kinds of things to greet him. Mac couldn't help but smile as Numbuh Two, Three, Four and Five displayed everyone in its own way their worry for their leader.

"You're all right, Numbuh One! Geez, I was sure you were going to kick the bucket this time!" Numbuh Two exclaimed.

"Numbuh One! You sure you're completely okay? You scared us!" Numbuh Three said. She was wearing a tiny but notable bandage over her head.

"Well, 'bout time, Numbuh One! I was already beginning to think about the catchphrase to put on your gravestone!" Numbuh Four taunted. He was the most beaten up out of the five members of Sector V, as he wore bandages all over his body and used a pair of crutches to help himself stand up correctly.

"You know you made all of us really worried, right, Numbuh One?" Numbuh Five scolded with a serious, but still somewhat happy, tone.

"Hey, one at a time guys! Yes, I'm all right, only some little cut here and here, but nothing serious. Mission ended successfully!"

"Oh, gimme a break! Can't you stop thinking about  _missions_  for a moment?" Numbuh Two complained, raising an eyebrow (or showing an expression similar to that, given the fact he had half of his face covered by his pilot goggles).

"Yeah, just relax for a sec! You've been chased by a giant monster until now!" Numbuh Four added.

"I know, it's just an habit…" Numbuh One tried to justify.

"Well, that's not enough to forget about your health! Follow us, I'll get you controlled right now!" Numbuh Three declared, hands on her hips.

"The medic's talked… you better not contradict her, Numbuh One" Numbuh Five commented with a slight smirk. The five of them continued to chat and talk about everyone's part in the mission as they approached what appeared to be a SCAMPER with a red cross painted on its sides.

Mac watched them for some more seconds before turning and focusing on his current, difficult goal of trying to fix things with Bloo. He was still being guarded by a squad of armed operatives, but for now he forgot about them. He followed Wilt until he saw in the distance the red hair that was of Frankie Foster, and the blue colour of his friend's body.

"Frankie!" Wilt called "Look who has arrived!"

When Frankie realized who Wilt was talking about, he also rushed to them in a hurry. "Guys! You don't know how much I've been worried about you! Especially you Mac, you're all right?" she asked as she got near him and began making a full scan of his face in search of eventual injuries.

Mac tried in vain to avoid making eye contact with her, and he was definitely forced to blush as he babbled "I'm okay, Frankie, I don't need… Hey, stop it! I'm okay... really!"

Frankie ignored his protests until she was sure the boy was all right: "You have just thrown yourself into a death trap back there, Mac. How can you expect us to be okay with that?"

Everyone nodded in agreement, and Mac bowed his head in shame.

"Hey, I didn't want to embarrass you. All that matters is that you, along with Eduardo and Goo, are all alive and okay. So, get that sad face out of my sight!"

The firm but kind tone of Frankie's words successfully made Mac exit from his state of emotions. But he was not yet done with them as a feeble voice called him.

"Mac…"

The mentioned boy slowly turned to the caller, and Mac and Bloo stared at each other for some, long, awkward seconds. The others kept silent as they let the two friends solve their private issue.

"Hello, Bloo. See that I'm all okay and healthy? I promised you, and here I am…" Mac pronounced, trying to reassure him.

Bloo stared at Mac for some more seconds before eventually saying with a visible struggle "Don't… Do… Ever…. Do… that… Again. Got it.?"

Mac smiled at the request, and was glad to answer it: "This was an extreme situation Bloo, but you're right. I'm not doing that ever again.  _Got it._ "

"Promise?"

Mac closed one of his hands in a fist and lightly hit his own heart: "Promise."

And like a bolt, Bloo dashed towards him and enwrapped him in a tight hug: "And I'm not crying!" he said while trying to stop the flow of water coming out of his eyes.

"Yes, yes, I'm happy to see you too, Bloo…" Mac replied calmly as he hugged back his best friend. The blue blob might have needed two months of scams and pranks towards him to even things between them after that day, but for Mac that was only a little nuisance he could manage compared to what happened in the previous hours.

"Mac's alive! Yeeee!" an annoying voice came to put an end to the charming moment.

"Well, I must say, for one time I agree with you, Master Cheese" another, more controlled voice added as a yellow, small imaginary friend and a tall and well clothed rabbit joined the group "Miss Frances has told me everything about what happened inside, young lad, including your courageous but impulsive decision regarding the Dark One, as it appears it is called. I suppose this so called monster is no longer a problem, isn't it?"

"Yes, Mr. Herriman. He's done for good" Mac confirmed as Bloo finally let him away and recovered his standard, stubborn and trouble-looking behavior.

"As much as I loathe to think that way, I think that's the best way things could solve themselves. What could have happened if that thing was left wandering in the house freely… I wonder how could an imaginary friend like that exist."

"That's the problem, Herriman" Frankie said "It  _wasn't_  an imaginary friend.  _Not anymore."_

"Hmmm, you do have a good point. Well, all's well that ends well then." Mr. Herriman finished "We should begin to pack up and think about how to get the house just like it was before all of this happened. There is also the fact that-…"

"Ahem… sorry?" a voice interrupted. The Foster's gang members turned to face none other than Sector V in its entirety. The event was so fast that all the friends and humans were momentarily surprised, and for half a minute the two groups just stared at each other without a word.

"So…" Numbuh One broke the ice "…my team mates wanted to say something to all of you, right?"

"Yes… We… we just wanted to say we…  _we're sorry_ " Numbuh Five said, carefully pondering over every word "We really acted rudely with you before, and though we didn't know about what was really happening we could have acted different. So, we hope that… at least you'll know we didn't really mean it…"

Numbuh Four, Two and Three nodded in agreement to Abigail's words. They then waited for a response from the imaginary friends as well as the three humans that were in front of them.

"I don't think you need to excuse yourself."

Abigail blinked and sent a completely flabbergasted look at the red imaginary friend: "What?"

"Well, it's true you acted rudely with us, and, I'm sorry, but trying to crush me with the chandelier back there was  _very_ rude… But we've all understood that it was only a big mistake; in a way, the entire misconception has been built by those five kids that were your enemies from the very beginning. Isn't that it guys?"

"Coco!"

"Si!"

"You couldn't choose better words, Wilt!"

"Ayeeeeeeee!"

"Absolutely!"

"Well, I can't say something against that…"

"That's because he's right, Herriman! Sheesh…"

"Of course it's no-… Ahem… Oh, all right, yes, I agree too…"

The Kids Next Door operatives didn't really expect that kind of reaction from the people they had knocked out, captured, tied up, lied to, threatened, and so on. Numbuh Five found herself smiling before she could realize it.

Further explanations and excuses had to be postponed when the figure of a Kids Next Door operative appeared out of nowhere and put himself between the two groups, successfully gaining their attention.

"Numbuh Twenty-Five? Are we needed?" Numbuh One asked with a questioning look.

"Yes, and you're needed  _now!"_  the operative finished "Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two requests the presence of you and your sector's members!"

The boy afterwards faced the imaginary friends: "Oh, she had also explicitly asked you all to come as well. Except for Numbuh Two-Hundred-One… you are  _ordered_ to come."

Mac temporary happy mood was crushed by the news brought by the operative. The boy simply nodded to the order, and gestured to his friends to keep their mouth closed for now. They were all going to know afterwards anyway, and he didn't want to get them in trouble because of him.

Numbuh One sighed, deep in thought. He decided that as soon as he had the chance, he would have tried to put a good word for Mac with the Supreme Leader. For now, he signaled his teammates to follow him, and he took the lead to return to the area in front of the main entrance. The messenger joined them as well, while the imaginary friends, Mac, Goo and Frankie stayed behind, circled by a further group of ten Kids Next Door operatives.

"So, what's up with this sudden call anyway?" Numbuh Four asked.

"You're not gonna believe it…" Numbuh Twenty-Five answered "Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two wants to tell the imaginary friends about their current situation, but there is something even more important!"

* * *

"I'm not going to say a single word to you brats, so you may as well release me!"

"And give Father another ice-cream man ready to serve him? No, thank you very much…"

Lester muttered under his breath another curse. Those darn kids were beginning to annoy him, and they didn't seem to be as much stupid as his colleagues often talked about them. In any case, a trip to the artic wasn't in his plans, so he persisted in trying to get out of the problematic situation.

"Look, you're smart, I can sense it, so we both know that there is no need to…"

"Shuddup!" a second voice stumped in, startling  _both_  the ice-cream man and the guard.

"Numbuh Eighty-Six and Three-Sixty-Two, sirs!" the operative saluted perfectly, ignoring the unimpressed look Lester gave to the two girls. How could those two ten years old be leading a worldwide military-like organization was still beyond his mind, despite all the times he had thought about it.

"At ease, soldier" Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two ordered as she and the other girl positioned themselves at Lester's side. The girl wearing a strainer helmet glared at him, but the adult was ready to answer with a glare of his own.

Lester didn't need much time to forget about the brat and focus on what was happening around him. He noticed Kids Next Door operatives as well as imaginary friends slowly gathering in the zone, forming what seemed to be two opposite sides. A group of Kids Next Door approached him and joined the Supreme Leader and her lackey: Lester didn't have a good knowledge of the KND, but he didn't need to be a genius to recognize the cursed Sector that had been various times a thorn at his boss' side.

Yet, he remained far from catching on the cause of such a crowd until the  _cause_ itself exited from the front door of the mansion.

* * *

"While we we're getting back, I called and ordered two squads of Kids Next Door to go check out the beast's corpse and begin the works to remove its remnants. However, as you can see, they found something else inside that room…"

Numbuh One was the only one in his Sector aware of Rachel's decision, but what he was seeing startled him nevertheless.

_They are still alive?!_

The Delightful Children From Down the Lane slowly walked down the wooden stairs and marched among the crowd, following the path that divided the imaginary friends and the Kids Next Door. They were escorted by a troop of ten soldiers, SCAMPPs and MUSKETs ready, but the five prisoners didn't seem to be ready to attempt an escape. Their clothes were worn out and ripped in various parts, there were various scratches all over their bodies, but most of all, their behavior was one of utter defeat. The five children kept their heads watching the ground for almost the entire walk, not even giving a glance to Sector V.

Almost, because when they passed in front of the Foster's gang, they instead suddenly stopped their pacing and looked at the various imaginary friends and humans. Rifles and guns were aimed at them, clicks of triggers activated were heard, but they ignored the threats and continued to intensely glare at the main reasons of their plan's failure.

"Move it!" an operative ordered, hitting one of the kids backs with the barrel of his weapon. The Delightful Children resumed their walk, but they persisted in keeping their stare until they were too far to do so.

"Are they gone?" Eduardo asked as he took a peek from the back of a huge, corpulent imaginary friend.

"Yes, yes, you can exit from your 'hiding place' now, Eduardo... Man, I sure hope we won't see them anytime soon, that look gives me the creeps!" Frankie commented.

"They're probably going to bring them far away from the United States, if I remember correctly about how the Kids Next Door keep prisoners…" Mac informed "We won't encounter them for a long time, that's for sure."

"Out of the United States? What, are those kids in other countries, too?" Goo asked, surprised.

"To be precise,  _every one…_  Not to mention the various secret bases they own…"

"You seem to know a lot about those kids, young master" Mr. Herriman said inquisitively "Is there something we don't know about?"

Mac nodded, but before he could explain himself, he was interrupted.

" _Numbuh Two-Hundred-One."_

What Mac did afterwards was pure instinct and the remembrance of past trainings: he turned and saluted the caller, but he almost chocked to see Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two in front of him, like only a step away. He had seen the girl from a distance during their return to the garden, but now that she was right there, and her attention was fully on his person, Mac found himself to be much more nervous than he expected.

She was the Supreme Leader of the Kids Next Door after all… and her face was not a kind or understanding one at all.

An operative approached them, carrying a pair of metal handcuffs.

"Your hands, Numbuh Two-Hundred-One."

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" Goo protested.

"Yeah, for what kind of reason are you… arresting Mac?" Wilt asked.

"Numbuh Two-Hundred-One is accused of  _desertion_  from the Kids Next Door" Rachel explained with a neutral tone "He has disappeared without a word, and the circumstances does not justify the fact he has put the entire organization in danger with his escape and the information he brought with him. He must be judged for his crimes and, if needed,  _punished."_

"Punished? Who do you think you are, the State?" Mr. Herriman blurted out, even he lost his normally calm demeanor at the nonsense words the little girl was saying.

"We're the  _Kids Next Door;_  a large-scale organization dedicated to help kids throughout the world, and we have a collection of rules every operative must respect in order to fulfill that objective. If anyone of our members breaks them even only one time… it's not a matter of education or something like that, it's about the stability of the Kids Next Door in their entirety. In our fight against adulthood, we can't just let cases like Numbuh Two-Hundred-One's be."

Frankie put her hands on her face at the redundant words about adults here, adults there. Those kids had been talking about it from the very first ones she had seen, and she had quite had it by now. "Look, I don't know what's going on between you all and Mac, but…"

"Exactly,  _you don't know…"_ Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two cut off while she turned away "…and you should therefore keep silent until requested.  _Adult."_

Frankie thought that a good ration of one of her brooms on the girl's butt would have gave her a good lesson about how to behave with others, but she, along with the other imaginary friends and Goo, saw the operatives of Sector V signaling them to keep silent. They were obviously trying to help them, so they all decided that the best decision for now was to keep their mouth shut. Even if that meant that they had to bring Cheese away from the scene after only ten seconds of silence, a period of time that was too much to handle for the annoying imaginary friend.

Yet, the one who found it harder than everyone else to accept what was happening was Bloo. He strangely kept his mouth shut while Mac was handcuffed and brought away towards the Kids Next Door. The boy, aware of the stare of his best friend, tried to show a reassuring smile to the Gang and in particular to the blue blob, and Bloo seized that little signal right away.

Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two had already entered her commander mode, so she was at the moment oblivious to what was happening between Mac and his friends. When she saw the supposed traitor safely secured by four guards, she finally directed a look to all the imaginary friends around her.

"Imaginary Friends of Foster's" she began, draining all attention to her "You're probably all confused and eager to know what has happened today. To be brief, we've  _all_ been deceived by a group of enemies of us, tricked to enter a trap we didn't even know of. Fortunately, we've been able to react and stop it before it could harm anyone, kid or friend alike, and I can say that us, the Kids Next Door, are thankful for your help in the battle against the adults that have threatened you this afternoon. The goal of our mission has been for the very beginning to help and protect you all, and though our fist encounters haven't been of the good kind…" the reference to Sector V's first recon was not so hidden "…in the end, we all joined up against the common threat… We just wanted to say we're sorry for bringing you into the affairs of our battle."

Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two remained silent for some seconds, letting her words sink in on both friends and operatives. She noticed that, of the two sides which were studying each other, Sector V's was in front of all the Kids Next Door except for herself and Numbuh Eighty-Six, who was guarding Numbuh Two-Hundred-One herself, without a doubt already preparing the decommission of the kid in her mind. Everyone in the KND knew about Sector V's missions and adventures, and it was expectable to see them in first lane during the confrontation. The fact was, it was curious to see that in front of all the imaginary friends there was a specific group, the ones who had been trapped in the house along with the black girl and the granddaughter of the founder.

Why it happened that way, she had no clue, but she soon forgot about it when she started to hear the first answers.

"Hey, at least it was fun!"

"Yeah, I haven't experienced something this exciting for a while!"

"Though receiving a punch on the face wasn't very entertaining… I have to agree!"

Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two smiled. Maybe those records on imaginary friends being kind and pacific weren't really true… In fact, she needed to have a little talk with the responsible of the espionage quarters for when she returned to the moonbase. But they sure were good, and that was all that mattered.

"We'll leave soon Foster's, but some of us will remain here and help you with the works to repair everything that the ice-cream men have done to your home…" between the various listeners, Mr. Herriman was the one more grateful than everyone for this last sentence "…as their appearance was in part our fault. I'm the Supreme Leader of the Kids Next Door, and in the name of all the kids who are and are not here, we thank you for the help you give to kids all over the world during your life. Be sure that we'll make sure that anyone, or anything, will never stop that."

A good part of the imaginary friends raised perplexed eyebrows at this announcement, but when all the Kids Next Door began clapping their hands, they couldn't help to join in. Actually, the only ones who did not clap their hands were Mac, who wasn't obviously in the same mood as everyone, and Lester, who would have rather cut his fingers away.

Speaking of the adult, who was hand cuffed as well, Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two appeared in front of him with an amused face.

"You know that Father is going to be furious when he'll know about this…" Lester said, grinning "…those idiot friends we'll be lucky if he limits himself to burn this dump of a house to dust."

"Oh, I'm sure Father is going to be also  _very_ happy about how you acted so well today…" Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two fired back. Lester did not answer, though he did mentally curse another time. "…as I thought. I think it's going to be fun to talk to each other at the moonbase… Numbuh Eighty-Six knows some tricks to make adults spit it out…"

"What? Am I not going to the Artic prison or something? Hey, where're you going?" Lester protested, but Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two was already walking away with a light smirk on her face.

In the meantime, Sector V's members had rejoined with their temporary allies back in the house and were basically exchanging the last waves, as the sky, now almost completely dark, was full of the illuminated forms of KND vehicles taking off or already flying.

"…So, uhm… you're not going to… uhhh…" Numbuh Four stammered while Frankie Foster towered over him.

Instead of decapitating the Aussie, Frankie put her hands on his head and began messing up his hair, much to his annoyance. "Hey!" Numbuh Four shouted as he tried to free himself from the attack. Fruitlessly.

"Well, you're still an annoying brat" Frankie said jokingly "But that does not mean I'm still angry. Though I continue to think the motives of your Kids Next Door stuff are less logical than Herriman's rules, if it wasn't for you who knows what those five creepy kids could have done."

Only now Numbuh Four was actually beginning to realize Frankie was no longer the Red Demon and was in good terms with him… for now. He stared in awe at her for some seconds, to which Frankie reacted scratching her head in confusion. The boy was distracted in the end by the screech of another imaginary friend, who had succeeded in freeing himself from the grasp of the two unfortunate chosen ones sent to keep him away.

Cheese began running around Wallabee like a joyful dog, but right before the boy decided to kick the friend, he stopped himself right in front of him.

"…yes?" Wallabee said, dumbfounded.

Cheese's answer was to rush over him and hug him tightly.

"What the crud you're doing, yellow head? Get offa me!" Numbuh Four yelled, trying to push the friend away, but he soon found out that it was not easy. Also because Cheese was not only blocking him but also hurting him, with the bandages, crutches and all.

"Well, seems like Cheese has just found a new best friend…" Frankie laughed as she enjoyed the show… making sure  _not to_ help the poor kid. She  _did_ say he was still an annoying brat, anyway.

"Awww, aren't you two the cutest thing I've ever seen?" Numbuh Three said while Cheese finally decided to let Numbuh Four free.

Wallabee only grunted in response, while he made sure his vertebral column was still in one piece. At Kuki's side there was Eduardo, who seemed to enjoy the scene as well.

"Anyway, there's something you should tell good Eduardo here, Wally…" Kuki began.

Wallabee raised his head and glared at her: "What's so important? There's nothing I have to say to…"

The Asian girl did not do anything apart from firing her particular burning glare at the blond kid. Numbuh Four was instantly convinced to do her bidding.

"I…. Oh, crud… I'm sorry, for calling you bad, the insults and all… Didn't mean it…" he grumbled, looking the other way. To his surprise, he heard Eduardo's noisy footsteps approach him.

"Apologies accepted, Senõr Wallabee…" Eduardo said cheerfully "Senõra Kuki has told me you don't mean it most of times. We all do bad things when we don't think over what we do…"

When he faced the imaginary friend, Eduardo got nearer to him and, making sure only the operative could hear him, nonchalantly whispered in his ear "Oh, and I saw what you feel about Senõra Kuki... You really should tell her, she's really a nice girl and she may…  _think_  about you a bit more than you may expect…"

"Huh?!" Wallabee was flabbergasted "What do you mean? What does she  _think?!"._  But Eduardo was already going away with a large smile and a look that was telling him 'I'll leave the rest to you…'.

Numbuh Four groaned. They really were all going to make fun of him today, right?

"Cocococoo…"

"I know, I was wrong with how I acted with you before… I hope you'll forgive us, we didn't really mean to lie to you…" Numbuh Two apologized, watching the ground.

To his surprise, Coco handed him one of her paws… like she wanted to 'shook hands'.

"Cococo cocococo. Coco?" she squawked.

"Yes, friends!" Hoagie quickly answered as he grabbed Coco's paw "maybe you could even let me try something of that magnificence you keep inside your-…"

" _COCOCOOOOOO!"_

"Cool it, I was just joking! Geez, you really get angry easily!" Hoagie said as he put himself at safe distance from the now angered bird-plane-palm imaginary friend.

"I don't think you were fully joking…." Numbuh Five casually commented as she appeared at Hoagie's side.

"Shhh! I did have to try!" the chubby boy tried to explain. Abigail just rolled her eyes… She was sure that the bird friend and Numbuh Two would have made a very interesting couple.

"…and he told me he knew about you!" the voice of Goo erupted as her and Wilt joined the group.

"Really? That's, like, a dream! Oh, I sure hope I'll be able to get to know him directly!"

"But, anyway. Does she is the kid you've been talking about?" Goo asked as she pointed directly at the red capped girl.

"Oh, yes. A bit timid and rude at first, but she proved to be courageous!" Wilt confirmed, smiling at Numbuh Five. The operative was still finding it difficult to believe Wilt had no trace of bitterness towards her. It was quite surprising.

"And so you're Numbuh Five? Oh man, Wilt has told me lots of things about you!" Goo said happily "Is it true you jumped over a chandelier and used it to stop him?"

"Uhh… Yes?" the other girl said, not sure about where the speech was heading to.

"You have to tell me how you did it!"

Now that was unexpected. Abigail found herself making a step back while Goo besieged her with a rapid series of questions, compliments and completely out of theme affirmations. Hoagie found this scene quite amusing, but his smile disappeared when the black skinned girl sent him an angry glare.

"All right, all right!" she eventually said to Goo "I think we'll just leave all these things for later, by now we really have to go…"

"You're already leaving? This early?" Goo almost shouted, ignoring the fact that the moon was already appearing far on the horizon.

Numbuh Five just couldn't help to put her hands on her face, exasperated.

"Come on, Goo, I'm sure we'll get the chance to see these nice kids another time. Won't we?" Wilt suggested as he put an hand on the hyperactive girl's shoulder.

"…Yes, actually yes!" Abigail immediately said. She saw the tall friend winking at her, and she smiled back, grateful for the help in dealing with the fast speaking girl.

Mr. Herriman observed the two groups continue to chat casually and reunite from a distance. He wasn't the type to do such informal goodbyes, but he couldn't say it was wrong to do so.

Frankie approached him and stayed at his side, smiling: "Quite strange kids, these ones. Aren't they?"

"Agreed, Miss Frances. Rude, annoying rascals using weapons without permission… but, I must admit, also valiant, helpful young masters… At least towards the other imaginary friends" Mr. Herriman replied.

"In my opinion, you should also come and say your goodbyes to them as well..." Frankie suggested.

"I'd rather maintain my composure, Miss Frances. Frankly, there is still the fact they have hit and knocked me out one time…"

Mr. Herriman heard someone giggling.

"Miss Frances!" he scolded, but Frankie was looking the other way, hiding her face from his sight. In the end, the old imaginary friend made a long sigh and went back in watching the group.

"Hey, where's the blue idiot?" Numbuh Four suddenly burst out.

"Uhm, it seems like he has not followed us… Oh, there he is! Hey, Bloo, come here!"

The blue imaginary friend was standing far from them, and reacted slowly to the call. He walked towards them with a gloomy behavior, one that made all the kids and imaginary friends remember about the only remaining problem of the day.

"Hey, Bloo, cheer up. Mac's a good kid, I'm sure that whatever they're accusing him of, it's false or not a big deal" Wilt tried to soothe.

Bloo did not answer, but he stared forward. He seemed to be in shock, and when the others followed his gaze, they realized why.

Numbuh One marched towards them, followed by two Kids Next Door guards… and Mac.

"It was hard, but I've convinced Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two to give him five minutes before his departure" the leader of Sector V announced.

Everyone was gladly surprised by this event, but no one dared to say anything as Bloo approached his best friend.

"So… you're leaving again…" he calmly said.

"Bloo, I'm not leaving because I want. I have a problem with the Kids Next Door I must solve now, once and for all. When that will be done, I'll come back. I promise."

Bloo watched the other way.

"You know… I've heard things around here about what they may be gonna do to you. About decommissioning…"

Goo and the imaginary friends did not understand, but the operatives of Sector V's cringed. That was a possibility no one of them could safely exclude.

"They're not going to wipe out my memories just like that Bloo…" Mac replied, crossing his arms.

"He's right, Bloo" Numbuh One added "Before anything else, Mac is going to be judged by a jury composed of various members of Global Command... though we can't say what they'll think of about him. Besides, you should know that recently we've added various grades of decommissioning. I'm sure he'll have the possibility to just forget everything about the Kids Next Door but still conserve the memories about his time here at Foster's."

"But what about-… what if something goes wrong?"

Mac was still hand cuffed, but that did not prevent him from putting his hands on Bloo's shoulders. Or the part of his body where shoulders would have been, had he been human.

"Bloo, I've promised I'm not going to leave you, and it still applies here. Whatever happens, I won't leave you. I'll come back soon… just, believe me one last time."

Bloo faced Mac and for some, long seconds kid and imaginary friend stared at each other.

"You better…" Bloo whispered, before looking other way and walking away. To see his friend that sad was not only strange for Mac, but it was also hurting his stomach. He sure hoped that, no matter the outcome of it, he could settle his last score with the Kids Next Door as soon as possible.

"Okay, then. Guys, the Supreme Leader has ordered us to follow the platoon back to the moonbase. Before going home we'll have to make a full report about the events of today…"

A series of groans was heard.

"…we'll be the squad that is going to escort Numbuh Two-Hundred-One there, too. The two operatives here, Numbuh One-Thousand-One and One-Thousand-Two, will come with us to guard over him. Numbuh Eighty-Six should be joining us as well."

Another series of groans, louder than before, was heard.

To be frank, Nigel didn't blame them, but they had no time to speak behind the back of the head of the Decommissioning Squad. He changed subject as he turned to the Foster's inhabitants.

"I don't know if you'll believe me, but I'll say it nevertheless. We'll do whatever is possible for us to help Mac getting through his accuses and return home as soon as possible. Our team is quite important in the Kids Next Door, and we'll put in a good word for him. Furthermore, about Numbuh Three-Sixty-Two, the blonde girl you've seen making the speech before… I know she has sounded to you like a heartless kid, but that was because she believes in what she does with all her soul. Inside she is good, and I'm sure she'll understand why Numbuh Two-Hundred-One has done what he did. I'd be surprised of the contrary, given the fact he has done today more than any of us."

Mac felt a bit of embarrassment when he saw all the Sector V's operatives nod in agreement.

"I don't think I deserve that compliment… I mean, I'm sorry for what I have done… but I don't think it's enough to say I did more than any of you.." he tried to respond. He remembered how he had reacted to Numbuh One's first appearance and how he had used Numbuh Three as an hostage to keep back him and Numbuh Four. Had they already forgotten about it?

"Hmph, you did rebel against us Numbuh Two-Hundred-One, but looking back I think that you had your reasons, and that I would have done the same in your position…" Numbuh One replied, and signaling the two above mentioned operatives to express their opinion. Kuki nodded another time, not at all offended, while Wallabee needed an additional glare to do the same. "Oh, in addition, there is something I need to tell you before we leave. Global Command is probably going to summon your former teammates in sector IF to give their testimony. That may be something good or bad depending on how they will react to the news of your return…"

"What… do you mean…?" the young boy was astonished by the idea of…

"…yes, Numbuh Three-Hundred-One and Four-Hundred-One still are in the Kids Next Door and have been relocated in other sectors. Five-Hundred-One had been decommissioned some weeks ago."

Mac kept silent, thoughtful. After all that time… he was going to meet again with his former teammates, the ones with which he had the chance to have some adventures together… It was mind blowing. He had definitely lost Five-Hundred-One… but what about the other two? Would they be able to accept his return, or would they became enemies in the next hours?

All the imaginary friends, as well as Goo and Frankie, seemed like they wanted to get to know more about Mac's past… Nigel predicted their questions and cut them off before they could begin.

"We're leaving  _now_ , so, I just wanted to say… we thank you for what you did back there, and we all hope we'll be able to meet all you again in the future. Imaginary friends and humans alike."

"I'm sure all the guys here think the same thing about you, too. Right?" Frankie asked.

Now it was the friends' (and Goo's) turn to nod in response. Apart of Mr. Herriman, who needed an elbow of encouragement into his side, they actually looked forward for that moment… maybe one when there weren't five maniac children, an army of ice-cream men and horrible demonic monsters wandering around.

That said, the operatives of Sector V waved at their newly found allies (and maybe friends) while they began walking away. The others waved back happily and they watched them moving towards the crowd of Kids Next Door members, working to leave and return back to the moonbase.

Mac in particular sent a goodbye to all his friends of his own: "I'll be back, I promise!" he shouted.

All the Foster's gang members knew that Mac, being the kind (most of times) kid he was, wouldn't lie to them. He was  _really_ going to come back, and despite all the pessimism, even Bloo knew it.

They continued to look at the operatives and Mac until they lost them in the frenzy. Afterwards Goo had to leave them too, as it was a bit too late for her to still be around. When they were sure even the dark girl was gone, Wilt, Coco, Eduardo, Cheese, Mr. Herriman, Frankie and Bloo began walking back towards the mansion.

"All right, let's get back to business, shall we?" Mr. Herriman proposed.

"Oh, for crying out loud, give us at least a minute! We've all went more things today than the previous six months combined!" Frankie lamented, throwing her hands in the air.

"Hmm, it is true, but we should also make sure about what is and what is not damaged in the house…"

"We'll think about it tomorrow, now just relax rabbit!" Frankie ordered. Mr. Herriman raised an eyebrow but did not reply more. After all, some of those Kids Next Door  _were staying_ here to fix all the newly found problems.

So, it seemed like that everything had resolved itself for that day, apart from Mac's situation. Instead, there was still one thing, one that basically  _everyone_ had forgotten about.

All the imaginary friends (and Frankie) blinked in shock when they saw  _who_ was calmly descending the stairs. The Kids Next Door operatives were moving around her, but the old, short woman didn't seem to mind.

" _MADAME FOSTER!"_

The various persons made a race to reach the founder of Foster's first.

"Madame Foster! You're okay?"

"Madame? What the… Where all you been all day?"

"What happened? Didn't you hear anything or what?"

"Grandma! Oh, dang, I completely forgot! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Are you okay?"

"Calm down, dear!" Madame Foster stopped further comments as she watched Frankie with an amused look, successfully calming her granddaughter "I've asked some of these gentle kids about what was going on, so there's no need to tell me. If what I was told is the truth, you should all really go and get some well-deserved rest!"

"But Madame!" Mr. Herriman protested, as much preoccupied as the redhead "What about you? Have you… just been in your room for all the day!?"

"Well, that camera was a rather funny pastime, Frankie dear!" Madame Foster informed "I did not die of boredom if you asked me! Oh, and there was this horrible black dog or something that seemed to have problems with its eyes who went to visit me, but when he began growling I made sure that he would have never returned! Bad dog should have received a better education!"

Everyone just remained motionless and silent, in shock, for a second.

After which everyone burst out laughing, even Bloo (but not Mr. Herriman, who only allowed himself a sigh of relief). Madame Foster had not appeared during all the events of the day, but she had another time been able to surprise them. They could literally see her bashing the poor dark hound with her walking stick.

With Madame Foster, now the gang was definitively ready to return back to the house to pass the night. Behind them, the entirety of the imaginary friends of Foster's Home began following them, while the last Kids Next Door operatives that weren't staying started the engines of their vehicles and left for the sky.

* * *

Mac was watching the space through one of the portholes of Sector V's SCAMPER. They had already left the ground fifteen minutes ago, and their ship had already exited the atmosphere, heading for the moon. Mac wasn't strangely interested by the sight of the Earth from space. His mind was focused on what was going to happen to him later, if he would have been able to show his motives and be forgiven for his disappearance, if his former teammates would have greeted him happily, if he would have succeeded in keeping his memories of Foster's…  _or not._

All the Sector V's members had tried to reassure him about their support, even Numbuh Four. After that, they had left him alone with his thoughts, and the young kid was grateful for that. Only the two Kids Next Door guards were near him now, as Numbuh Eighty-Six was too much busy arguing with Numbuh One.

He had thought of an idea to follow which had a good probability to work out and get him out of this situation, and he needed the help of Nigel, Hoagie, Kuki, Wallabee and Abigail to do that.

Before getting up to go discuss with his at the moment only allies, he watched the earth and namely where he believed his town was in the United States.

_I'll be back, guys._

* * *

**…**

**END TRANSMISSION**

**…**


End file.
